Five Seconds
by arondran24
Summary: Starts after Freedom's Progress in ME2. Shepard is asked to look for reaper tech in an old Earthen Facility, what she finds is not what she expected, point of view is mostly from OC character and Shepard, Rated M for language and suggestive themes.
1. Pilot

Five Seconds

Chapter 1: Pilot

**Authors Note: Hello everyone that have decided to choose this fanfiction to read. I'd like to first off say that this is my first fanfiction I've ever done and will do my best to do the Mass Effect series justice. The Shepard in this story is Paragon with Renegade tendencies, while the OC character will use words from paragon discussions he is not MShepard. There will be parts where the story goes word for word with the series, these are not my words and do not claim any ownership to anything in the Mass Effect series, Bioware and EA owns it (Though it makes you wonder if any of them have written fanfiction..hmmm). Please read and review, being my first fanfic I'd like to know how bad this is, Ha.**

As Shepard's form appeared on the holographic, the Illusive Man inhaled through his cigarette before he spoke, "Shepard, good work on Freedom's Progress. The quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but it's a surprising olive branch, given our history."

Shepard's steel grey eyes looked into the cybernetic glow of the Illusive Man's eyes, having to hold an internal shudder as they reminded her of Husks almost, she crossed her arms, leaning back on one foot acting casual "It doesn't hurt to play nice with others" she replied simply, Veetor was just a victim in all of this, despite sending mechs against her team, it was all in self-defense in the end. She was more than happy to send the quarian with her friend Tali instead of handing him over to Cerberus. She was disappointed that Tali couldn't come with, but understood she was needed elsewhere for the time being.

She watched as he brought the glass of, whatever the hell he drank, to his lips, taking a sip from it before placing it back in its place "Diplomacy is great when it works," He explained in a matter-of-fact tone "But difficult when everyone already perceives you as a threat."

"_I wonder why"_ She almost said out loud, but only thought to herself. After hearing about the altercation between Cerberus and the quarians she couldn't help but understand why some of the quarians on Freedom's Progress were so distrusting, idiots or not.

"But more importantly", his voice interrupting her thoughts, "You confirmed the Collectors are behind the abductions."

The way he said it made her eyes narrow just slightly before she spoke "Of course you knew about them already didn't you?" She just listened as he explained that he had his 'suspicions', but needed proof, telling her how they go to the Terminus system to trade what seemed to be useless or inconsequential items or specimens in turn giving a bit of their technology which was substantial. After their trade it seemed they high tail it back to the Omega 4 relay, which, to Shepard's glee, has never been gone through with an Alliance ship and come back. After her attention span started to ebb away with all the questions and responses she finally placed her hands behind her back "If this is a war, I'll need an army. Or a really good team."

The Illusive Man seemed to have known she was going to say that, since right after she did a list appeared right near his chair "I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You'll get dossiers on the best of them." the orange holo of the list disappeared as quickly as it came. "But first," he started before taking another puff from his cigarette, the orange glow lighting up his face for a moment in the dark room "I need you to go to a facility that was abandoned one-hundred and seventy years ago."

The look of confusion on Shepard's' face must have been evident as he continued to explain, "It was abandoned after an accident occurred when a piece of alien technology was found and brought in for study, after which all connection to the facility was lost, no survivors."

"Are you saying that it could be Reaper tech?" She said with a surprise tone in her voice, getting their hands on that could mean a way to fight back, or even _prove_ that the Reapers were real to the Council.

"I wouldn't have told you if there was any chance that it wasn't" His fingers grasped the end of his cigarette, pressing the glowing end into the ash tray on his chair "I've already sent you the coordinates."

Her feet started to shift as she started to feel eager to be gone "Is that all?" she wanted to get out of the damned Cerberus facility, hearing him go on and on caused her head to hurt more than it already did.

"One last thing," He promised with a slight amused twitch to his lips "I've found a pilot I think you might like. I hear he's one of the best."

"_No fucking way.." _She thought before she heard footsteps behind her, suddenly turning away from the Illusive Man and leaving the glowing blue circle she saw the limping smart-ass pilot she thought she wouldn't see ever again.

"Hey Commander." Joker gave a cocky grin as he reached up, grasping the tip of his cap "Just like old- Urk!" he was suddenly interrupted by the excited woman grabbing him and giving a hard hug "Oww oww brittle bones? Remember?" was all he could get out before the Commander pulled back with a goofy grin.

"It's good to see you Joker."

She would have taken the entire day to explore the new Normandy, the joy and exhilaration at seeing the ship again was something only she and Joker could understand, of course there were a few downsides, like Miranda who was going to be with them on the mission, and the Cerberus logo, colors, and uniforms that was on her ship and the crew. As if that wasn't enough it took her by surprise that an AI called Edi was installed on the ship. She was squeamish at the thought after fighting so many geth, but she was stuck with it like she was stuck with her ship plastered with the Cerberus colors. She took the time to meet with the crew, from Kelly, to Mr. Gardener the cook and, to her horror, plumber. _"Why is the man cleaning the toilets cooking the food?"_ She wanted to shout out, but she refrained by promising to get better food on the Citadel when they had the time.

Just when she thought she had no more surprises to find she ended up in the Med Bay, her eyes quickly narrowing in on a woman with a familiar hair cut "Dr. Chakwas?" she said hopefully, and to her delight the older woman turned around, giving a gentle smile "It's good to see you again Commander." The doctor got up from her chair, the two women hugged for a moment before taking a seat a caught up with all that happened the past two years. Shepard left promising to get the Doctor a bottle of brandy when she could, despite the doctor's claim that it wasn't needed. After taking the elevator down to the fourth floor and acquainting herself with the engineers Donnelly and Gabriella (Which she decided to call Don and Gabby) she decided it was time to see the top floor, which she was informed, was her own personal room.

When she entered her new room she had to admit she liked it, the bed was larger than her bed on the old Normandy, and it also had a system put in to plan her clothes and even customize her N7 armor. After fiddling with the color schemes of her armor she picked a cherry red instead of the black color of her old armor. It was only until she sat down on her bed, feeling the soft mattress and the fabric of the blanket did she realize how tired she was, she didn't have time to rest after Freedom's Progress, and only then did she feel the weight of exhaustion pressing down on her shoulders. It took her a minute to pull herself from the bed, walking over to the door of her shower room, stripping down to her birthday suit on the way leaving a trail of clothing in her wake.

The hot water felt so good on her aching muscles, the droplets of water sliding down her tan skin, her face staring down at the ground as her fingers brushed over the skin of her body. Before she got spaced she had almost a record of battles she was in etched on her skin in the form of scars, but now the slate had been cleaned, not a trace of the scars that made her _her_. As the water came down she couldn't help but think of her old crew, Pressley, Wrex, Tali, Liara, her closest friend Garrus, and the man she spent the night with before Ilos, Kaiden Alenko. She wondered what he was up to, Joker told her that he had been promoted, but that was all anyone knew, even the Illusive Man had no idea. A part of her hoped that he had moved on, another part of her wished he hadn't, that they had a chance to be together again. She shook her soaked red hair for a moment, vanishing her thoughts before she turned off the shower, letting them slide down the drain with the water.

She finished drying off with a towel, leaving the shower as she dried her hair before wrapping the towel around her form, her eyes looking over to her personal terminal, seeing the flashing envelope icon blinking, she leaned forward to look at the icon, it was from the Illusive Man, no doubt, giving her the coordinates to the facility. Though she decided that she wouldn't just drop whatever she was doing just to read an email. Instead she explored the rest of her room, from the couch that was in the shape of an L in the corner and the empty fish tank, and during all this she held her omni-tool up, scanning for bugs. Satisfied with herself after finding six bugs she finally decided to look at the message, still in her towel she sat in her chair, leaning forward as she looked through the message. She could only wonder as she saw the destination.

Area 53, Earth.

It was hot beneath the Arizona sun; the Cerberus vessel they took to their location was blissfully air-conditioned. However, to Shepard's constant chagrin, no one ever thought of installing a cooling system in her armor. When they landed and stepped out it only took a few seconds before a bead of sweat formed on her forehead, she wasn't used to Earth's heat, having lived on ships for almost half her life.

"I hate you both." She pointed at Miranda and then Jacob, both wearing their usual white, thin, skin tight uniforms.

Jacob just raised his hand up, brushing it over his mouth, obviously hiding a smirk of amusement. Shepard liked Jacob; he was a good man that just wanted to do good, just with the wrong crowd.

Miranda, on the other hand, was more of an icy bitch in Shepard's mind; it wouldn't have surprised her if Miranda held up yellow and black pompoms shouting "Go Cerberus!" She had her uses though, like being focused on why they were there in the first place. Holding up her omni-tool she pointed to what seemed to be…nothing, but a bunch of rocks.

"According to the Illusive Man's Intel the facility should be there…but that can't be right." The black haired woman murmured in thought before she looked at her omni-tool again.

"Maybe it's underground." Jacob reasoned, "Scans should show if there's anything down there."

Shepard wiped the back of her armored arm across her forehead, almost expecting her armor to hiss with the contact before she shook her head, bringing her hand to where her communicator was in her ear, "Joker, scan the ground around us, anything down there besides prairie dogs?"

Instead of hearing Jokers voice, she heard the synthetic voice of EDI,_"Scans are showing what could be structures beneath the soil, however there seems to be structural damage in an area of the facility, there should be a way into the facility here." _

"What it said Commander," Jokers voice came in next sounding a bit put off. Shepard could only imagine how annoyed the helmsman was with having the AI on board 'his' ship, going so far as to call it a 'ship cancer'.

She couldn't exactly disagree with him, but she knew when to give credit, "Thanks EDI, you too Joker." She just heard a scoff before she ended the connection, pointing her hand over to the rocks "EDI say's there is something there, let's take a look." already walking towards the destination if albeit quickly, it was starting to get hot in that armor.

When they reached the medium sized stones Shepard noted how they made a circle, almost _too _perfect of a circle, Jacob noticed as well "These stones aren't here naturally…" he walked over to the largest one, his hands brushing over the stone, sand rolling off it before his hands brushed off enough, a horizontal slit showed up on the rock. "Look at this." He pointed at the stone "It's fake."

Shepard moved over next to Jacob, squatting down she pressed her hand against the top of the fake stone, with a grunt the horizontal slit started to widen, the grind of sand against the hidden hinge finally gave way to reveal a number pad, she held her omni-tool over the pad, it took only moments to figure out the code: 7243623. She punched the code in, after she pressed the last '3' she stood up, looking around as if a building would just pop up from the ground like a stripper from a birthday cake.

She glanced over at Miranda, who proceeded to shrug her shoulders, "Perhaps it's—" She was interrupted when the ground beneath them suddenly dropped slightly, the group almost losing their balance before gaining their balance, slowly sinking into the ground into darkness.

A soft click and light flashed as Shepard turned on the light on her Avenger rifle, Jacob and Miranda doing the same as they went down lower, and lower beneath the Earth. The air was starting to smell of dust.

"I hate elevators," Shepard sighed as she shifted in place, thinking back to what must have been hours standing in the Citadel elevators, listening to her team poke fun at each other or listening to the monotone advertisements. She reached up to her ear, accessing her com as a door finally revealed itself once they reached the bottom, "EDI, anything I should know before we go in?"

It only took the AI a moment to respond, _"Heat scans are normal except in one area of the facility."_

"What do you mean?"

"_Signatures show that amount of freezing solution is being used in that part of the facility, it is also one of the few areas that still have emergency power, if you can put me near a console I will attempt to turn on other systems."_ The AI explained in that almost human like tone.

"Careful you don't get eaten by some freak of nature alien down there Commander," Jokers' 'helpful' advice chiming in through her comm.

"Thanks Joker." She rolled her eyes before she walked over to the door, it reminded her of the automatic doors on normal ships, as she got closer the door hissed, slowly opening until it stopped half way, looking back at the Cerberus operatives she nodded her head, raising her rifle as she slid through the half opened door.

At one time the halls of the facility must have been pure white, clean, with men and women wearing white lab coats and glasses. However, now it was dark, the walls covered with filth, and it smelt dry, dusty, and something she didn't want to think about.

"To think this how far we were so long ago." Miranda's voice coming in from behind Shepard, the Operative sounded impressed "It's facilities like these that helped humanity get to where we are now."

"I think this facility didn't get that chance," Jacob pointed out before they reached the end of the hall; the automatic door seemed to almost have been punched into by a massive object that didn't quite break through. When they got closer it had tried to open, but it got stuck, not far enough for them to slip through this time.

"Jacob, Miranda, think you can get these doors open a bit wider?" Shepard glanced over at the two biotics who in turn nodded. They stood near each other, holding out a hand, She was always impressed at the power biotics could have, watching as their hands glowed with what was almost like a blue flame, the doors creaking and groaning before they started to bend open far enough for them to slip in.

If she thought the hall was a mess, the large room they entered was a train wreck, parts of the ceiling had caved in, dirt covering the once clean floor, metal chunks from parts of the ceiling resting in awkward angles on the ground, scorch marks in the center of the room making it clear this chaos was caused by an explosion. She caught sight of an old computer set against the far left wall, huge towers on either side of it. Slipping through the debris carefully she held out her omni-tool to the console, connecting EDI to the system "Alright EDI, let's see what you got." She murmured as she waited.

It didn't take long for the AI to work through the system, the lights that remained on the ceiling blinking rapidly before finally sustaining a constant light, the hum of long unused vents blowing dust out into the air, causing Shepard and the two agents to cough and cover their mouths and noses. The computer in front of the Commander coming to life as random bits of data popped up onto the screen.

"_I was able to bring emergency power back online in this area Shepard."_ EDI's voice coming through her communicator,_ "I have also accessed security systems and found what caused the facility to go offline."_

"Show it to me," was all Shepard had to say before the screen in front of her blinked for a second before showing the same room they were in.

The room was filled with scientists with their white lab coats, holding what looked to be scanners over what looked like a piece of what Shepard recognized to be a part of a reaper. _"So it is here…"_ she thought to herself before a voice came from the console.

"_How much longer are you going to be keeping me and my team here?"_ A man who wore camouflage that must have been colored for the desert, he was standing near the computer they were now looking at.

"_Patience Colonel, you need to be looked over, you could have been exposed to-"_ The scientist who was speaking didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before the Colonel suddenly shouted something she couldn't understand from the tape, the other military men had reacted, but only the Colonel and the scientist had made it to the door before the scientist hit something on the door, closing it shut, the entire thing took five seconds, exactly after the camera went dark.

"It must have been activated by their scanners," Jacobs' voice coming from behind Shepard before she turned around to look at him "Exploded to hide the evidence of its existence..."

"Fuck..." She cursed as she looked to where the explosion had taken place, shaking her head before she looked over at the door the Colonel had gone through "Let's see what's through those doors, you two know what to do." She pointed at the two biotics and then the broken door, watching as they bent a hole through the door to give them access.

The lights slowly flicked on as they walked down the hall; before they reached the end EDI's voice came over her com, _"Shepard I'm picking up minimal life signals in the next room."_

Miranda was the first one to voice her disbelief, "That's not possible." She held up her omni-tool, pressing a few buttons on it before she looked up at Shepard "There's something in there."

"Or something," Jacob murmured, rising his rifle up, Shepard and Miranda following suit.

"Be ready." Shepard told them before she took a deep breath, suddenly walking towards the door as it opened up completely. The room glowed a deep blue, and it was indeed colder than the room they were in before much to Shepard's relief, they scanned through the room, finding only a skeleton near a console, nearby the source of the glowing blue light.

"Scans say there is a life signal, but where is it?" Shepard wondered softly to herself before she moved over to the blue light, it looked like a large glass container resting horizontally on a table. Multiple tubes fed into the container, when she got closer she could make out a shape of a…human?

"Over here!" She called out to Jacob and Miranda, who came over quickly weapons drawn before they saw her relaxed by the container; they joined her and joined in the stare as they saw what was inside.

The body of what must have been the Colonel in his camouflage gear, the word "Rangers" stitched on the shoulder. "My God…" Shepard murmured as she looked at the scans on her omni-tool, "He's alive."

**I hoped you enjoyed the first chapter to what I hope to be an enjoyable fanfiction. As the chapter suggests this is a test to see what people think of it so please read and review! Any grammar flubs are completely my fault Sorry! Tell me what you think, tell me it's good, terrible, needs work; I can take it, thank you again!**


	2. I had a Date

Five Seconds

Chapter 2: I had a Date

**Authors Note: I know I said that I would update once a week, but after getting my first review from an Italian no less!(I know I was excited ) I decided to push out another chapter, and it seems cruel to hold onto it until next week, so as an act of good faith that I won't leave you waiting forever for another chapter, here's an new one fresh from the oven! If you send a review I will do my best to respond if you want me to, and if not know that I appreciate the advice and reviews. Now let's start from the top! First I apologize for any grammatical errors, and secondly I do not own anything in Mass Effect. That is Bioware and EA's alone, it is their preciousss (Gollum, Gollum).  
**

* * *

"Not exactly what I hoped for Shepard, but not everything can be so easy." That was the first thing that came out of the Illusive Man's mouth when Shepard appeared on the holo, sitting in that same chair, possibly with the same glass and damned cigarette he had _last _time, Shepard wondered how he wasn't overweight.

"At least we got something from it, I'd be more pissed if it was all for nothing," Shepard reasoned, she was as disappointed as the Illusive Man that they did not retrieve the Reaper tech. After they found the frozen soldier they brought him and the container into the Med Bay, waiting for him to thaw out, it didn't take long for the Illusive Man to come calling, she would have ignored him if it wasn't for him overriding her controls on the galaxy map.

The Illusive Man brought his cigarette to his lips, the tip flaring up in an orange glow before he pulled it away, blowing smoke towards the hologram Shepard, she had to resist wiping her hand in front of her face, a reaction that grows when higher ups blew smoke in your face to prove a point, "Does the doctor have any idea of his condition?", asked the Illusive Man.

At that point Miranda stepped into the holo, appearing next to Shepard as the red haired woman looked over at the operative, "We do," Miranda confirmed before continuing "The cryo kept him alive, but it wasn't perfect, his muscles and bone structure are weak and we can't even begin to guess the status of his mind."

Shepard looked down for a moment in thought before she put one leg behind her as she leaned back, crossing her arms as she decided, "Can you get him running again." She looked over more at Miranda then the Illusive Man; she was the woman that ran the Lazarus Project that brought her back after all, and she was in a worse state then he was.

The dark haired woman didn't need much time to figure out her chances, "We can, Cerberus has the technology, we brought you back from a worse state didn't we?" She voiced the thought Shepard had in her own mind, "We need a science team and…" She started for a moment as if debating whether or not to say what was next.

Shepard just looked at the woman curiously _"What's got her tight panties up in a bundle?"_ she wondered before she said out loud, "Go on."

Miranda seemed to have decided to continue and dropped the bomb "L5 implants."

"What?" Shepard looked at the woman shocked, even the Illusive Man had perked up his brow at the request.

"There's Elemental Zero in his blood stream, we don't know how, but that's the facts," Miranda confirmed as she placed her hands behind her back.

Shepard looked over at the Illusive Man who was nodding his head as he seemed to be working those wicked wheels in his mind before he finally spoke, "The team is already on their way to your ship, they will arrive soon."

That statement surprised Shepard, not Miranda she saw, she put two and two together, "That was your plan all along, and you knew I would request this." Her storm grey eyes looked over to the Illusive Man; she didn't need words to know she was correct.

"If there is one thing that is predictable about you Shepard," he started before he took a drink from his glass, setting it back down as he shifted in his chair, "It is your compassion for people you don't even know, plus there is the chance he could be an asset."

Shepard bristled slightly as she caught a hint of contempt when he spoke of her compassion, her eyes narrowing slightly before she finally responded, "Just make sure you don't mess with him in a way that doesn't need messing with." She looked over at Miranda when she said this, remembering how the Cerberus agent had admitted to wanting to place a control chip in her mind. She said nothing else; instead she turned, leaving the blue circle, her image leaving Miranda and the Illusive Man.

* * *

"So I hear we have a human ice cube in the Med Bay, can you shave me off enough for a snow cone? Kinda hungry," Joker quipped as he spun around to face the Commander.

A few hours had passed since her talk with the Illusive Man, and half of those hours were spent in the shower washing sweat and sand that got places she didn't even think were possible. "Sorry, it's first come first serve, you're going to have to walk your crippled ass down there with your own chisel," She fired back with a sly smirk crossing her lips.

"Ouch," He placed his hand on his heart as she just shot him, "Right in the thumper Commander," He chuckled before spinning back around to face the orange screen, pressing a few buttons before he tilted his head around, seeing her still standing there, "Soo…anything else I can do for you Commander?" He asked the look on his face almost curious.

She was about to respond before EDI chimed in, _"The Cerberus team is here and prepared to dock Shepard."_

This earned the AI a nod from Shepard, she turned walking over to the airlock to bring the team on, not to mention keep an eye on them, and it earned the AI a scowl from the helmsman who mumbled, "I was fine with the old Normandy not reminding me the 'Airlock is ajar'" doing his best EDI imitation before the cockpit got quiet…

"_Mr. Monroe." _EDI's voice chimed in after a moment.

"Yes?" He sighed, looking over at the blue image.

"_The Airlock is ajar."  
_

* * *

Shepard stood in front of the Med Bay window, her grey eyes staring through the glass, but mostly at her own reflection. The Cerberus medical team was already at work on the sedated soldier. Her fingers brushed against the metallic chain of the dog tags they removed from around his neck; bringing it back up to her eyes she read the information on the dog tag.

_Heraldson_

_Daemon, A_

_AB_

_Christian_

"_Colonel Daemon Heraldson eh?" _She thought to herself before looking back up at the glass. She tried to keep thinking about the army ranger in the med bay, even researched them while she stood there, but she couldn't stop thinking about the people _not_ there it had happened to her back in the cockpit. In her minds' eye she pictured Garrus and his trusty sniper rifle, always watching her back when she charged out in the field, and Kaiden running right alongside her. Her throat clenched slightly when she thought of Kaiden, again those silly thoughts running through her head, wondering if he still cared, she had to keep her mind busy…but with what?

The answer came almost immediately when the voice of Yeoman Kelly Chambers came over the intercom, _"Commander, the dossiers on the recruits just arrived; they are on your private terminal."_

"Thanks Kelly," She replied with relief, she looked over at the Med Bay window, having to reassure herself they wouldn't do anything to her possible recruit before she went up to her private quarters.

"I hate elevators," She claimed out loud to no one in particular as she stepped off the elevator into her quarters, she sat down on her terminal chair, her finger reaching out idly as she clicked at the blinking message icon, grey eyes looking over the names and information.

"_Commander Shepard," _EDI's voice sprang her out of the sleep that had ambushed her while she read, her face pressing against the metal desk, pulling her face from it as she groaned.

"What is it EDI?" She asked as she looked over at the clock _"I've been out for that long?...Shit,"_ She thought to herself, she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep the day before they went to Area 53, it must have caught up to her as she read cause it said she had been out for six hours.

"_We have a situation down on the crew deck," _The AI announced with a slight tone of urgency in her synthetic voice that caused Shepard's head to jerk up, the sleep vanishing from her bones.

"What's happened is the Colonel dying?" She asked as she held her breath, she didn't want a death on her ship so soon.

"_The surgery was successful, however...he is awake."_

She blinked her eyes rapidly, _"So soon?"_ she thought to herself before she asked out loud "What is the problem with that?"

That is when she got the response she wasn't expecting from the AI, _"He's knocking out personnel."_

She cursed before she kicked away from the chair, running to the elevator, "Why didn't you say that first?" she shouted as she hit the button for the crew deck, the elevator moving so far slower now then she ever thought was possible.

* * *

"_How much longer are you going to keep me and my team here?" The Colonel asked impatiently as he watched the scientists scan that Godforsaken piece of meteor junk that fell from the sky. The scientist had started to respond, but that was when he got that feeling, the terrible feeling…"FIVE SECONDS!" he shouted, his men knew what it meant, he grabbed the scientist by the scruff of his lab coat, pulling him behind the door, his chest pounding, he watched his men running to the door, he gritted his teeth, hoping, praying that they made it, until he saw the man in the white lab coat run to the console near the door "NO!", he yelled at the man before the door shut, and then the explosive BOOM._

His green eyes snapped open as if the explosion had just happened to him; he expected his body to be on fire, that was how hot he felt, the sweat sliding down his forehead and bare chest, the only thing on his body was a pair of pants. After a few moments he finally started to get his bearings.

The room he was in seemed to be an ICU, half the machines in the steel room he couldn't even recognize, scratch that, _none_ of the equipment he saw was recognizable, save for the IV that dripped what he had to assume was morphine into his system. He slowly sat up, his muscles screaming for him to stop, but he kept at it, slowly turning he slowly slipped to his feet, he had to lean against the IV stand. He felt so weak it was pathetic, his teeth gritting he pulled out the needle from the morphine, no doubt tiring him worse than he was, using it as a cane he slowly inched towards what must have been the door.

"_What hospital has these kinds of doors?"_ He wondered to himself as the door opened after a moment, as he got closer to the door he heard voices, suddenly pressing himself against the wall he held his breath as he listened in, wondering how close they were since they were so loud and clear.

"My sister hasn't talked to me since I joined Cerberus," one voice said, Daemon couldn't help but wonder who Cerberus was, no doubt the company that he was now a guest of.

"That's rough man, I'm sorry, you can't help it they think we're terrorists." the other voice responded.

The word _terrorists_ sent alarm bells through his mind, his heart starting to quicken as he took in that information, suddenly he didn't feel so exhausted anymore. _"Who are these people? Where am I? How long was I out?"_ these questions and so many more rocked through his head so fast he felt dizzy, not even realizing that one of the men had noticed the door open wide.

"Hey you're not supposed to be-!" was all that came out of the man before the Colonel reacted on pure instinct, his hand snapping up, striking the man in the gut, sending him keeling over before slipping over to his side, slamming his elbow down onto the mans' back, sending him to the ground.

"Stop!" The shout came from the other Cerberus employee, his fist swinging straight for Daemons head, his arm shooting out, catching the mans' wrist with his hand, his free hand curling up into a fist, punching beneath the outstretched elbow, dislocating it before he kicked the man in the groin, sending him over to the steel floor.

He was about to make a run for it before that tingle went down his spine, something was about to happen in five seconds, instinct narrowed it towards the black haired woman in the skin tight white and black outfit, what must have been the Cerberus logo right on her breast.

"_One…." _He counted in his head, whenever the feeling hit him it felt like the danger moved so slowly, her hand slowly rising up _"Two…"_ Fingers slowly out stretching _"Three…"_ her fingers were pointing straight at him _"Four…"_ a glow of what looked like blue flames wrapped around her hand, he didn't have the time to be stunned because he was diving to the side at _"Five!"_ a blue wave nearly clipping him, smacking against the wall as he rolled onto his shoulder, already aware of what came next, in the next five seconds she was running towards him in his minds' eye, foot out stretched to kick him in the head, a knockout blow it seemed.

To her it would seem like he had caught her foot with his hand out of pure luck, using that moment of surprise to suddenly kick his foot out to swipe her other foot out from under her, she slammed onto the ground with a 'thud', he was already scrambling onto his feet, about to try and get as far away from the magic woman until he was face to face with what looked like a pistol pointing straight at his forehead, his eyes having to focus past the barrel to look at the tanned, red haired woman with grey eyes, who seemed to be wearing loose black jeans and a tank top.

"That's enough out of you Colonel," the woman said with an American accented voice that was relaxed, yet had that edge of authority that you wouldn't question.

Daemon only glanced with his eyes over his shoulder, seeing the black haired woman getting up "I'm sorry Commander," she apologized, his ear catching a slight British, no, Australian accent "I didn't expect him to be able to recover so quickly."

"What do you want? If you expect to use me as some bargaining chip we don't make deals with terrorists," He said with a calm tone, his blue eyes looking from the gun to the woman's arm, too far away for him to grab, and if he tried to run, it would do no good.

"Over heard that did you?" The red haired woman, who seemed to be in charge of this group asked, her lips curling into an amused grin, what she said confused him even more, "Cerberus _are _terrorists, at least they are in my mind and half of other people, that's why I need men like you for this mission, I'm Commander Jane Shepard, you're on the SSV-Normandy." She lowered the pistol, placing it in a holster on the belt of her loose black jeans, her other hand outstretched to shake his hand.

Daemon could only look at the woman with suspicion, his arms crossing loosely across his chest, "If they're terrorists why let them on your ship…Commander?" He asked as his green eyes searched her face for a reaction.

He watched as she gave a shrug of 'what can you do?' before she responded, "Sad fact the bad guys are the good guys here, they're the only ones helping us fight the Collectors."

"_Collectors? Who the hell are they?" _he wondered before he shook his head, he felt so confused, "Ma'am I don't get _any_ of this…where am I? How long have I been out?"

This caused the red haired woman to flinch, she pulled her hand away as she raised it up to the side of her face, it looked like this was a question she hoped she didn't have to answer, "You've been out for a long time Colonel…170 years give or take… it's the year 2185 CE."

The air left his lungs as if someone had hit him, his head felt so light that he felt like he was about to collapse, he felt himself about to fall over before he suddenly burst into a run, blazing past the Commander, not hearing a word she said, she had to be lying, she _had_ to be, he turned to the left, running straight for the automatic door, it opened wide before he stood in front of a window…that brought him to his knees.

All he saw was the expanse of space, no water, no waves, no sun, just the stars that dotted the universe. The SSV-Normandy was a _space_ ship, not a navy ship. But that didn't matter to him…no what mattered was that everything he had, his home, his family, _everything_ that mattered to him…was gone. He didn't even hear the footsteps of someone approaching from behind.

The Commander looked down at the Colonel with sympathy, she couldn't see his face, but she could see the despair that sank down onto him, she knelt down beside him, her hand touching his shoulder "Are you alright?" she asked, knowing the answer, at least she thought she did.

For a moment all he wanted was a bullet in his skull, to end this despair that threatened to drive him mad, but then a thought came to his mind, a mission, the Commander mentioned a mission, a mission he was needed for, his head bowed as he murmured, _"Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission though I be the lone survivor."_ That was right, there was a mission he was needed for, and he would complete it, and perhaps then he could die holding his honor.

His head slowly turned to look over at the Commander, his eyes starting to get blurry as tears slid down his face "I'm fine..." He choked for a moment quoting a movie he saw that was now so long ago, from a fictional character that suffered the same fate as he.

"I had a date."

* * *

**And thus ends the second chapter to this story. I don't plan on having Daemon being a sad sap the entire story; he'll have his moments though. Since this is my first time doing a fight scene please let me know what you think! I didn't want to draw it out. Also if you're wondering what he is saying about the "Ranger Objective" that is a part of the Ranger Creed, a vow that Army Rangers take, so that bit is where that comes from, and other bits of the Creed will be used in parts of the story, please review! :D Also just so I don't get sued, the movie he is quoting from is from Captain America, the new version. Free cookies to you if you figured that out :3 **


	3. Surprise of the Day

Five Seconds

Chapter 3: Surprise of the Day

**Authors Note:** **This one is going to be a bit long just to warn you! This one took me a bit due to Finals in college and just the length of the chapter in itself. Thank you for reading this and please forgive grammatical errors, they are all my fault. Bioware and EA own the Mass Effect series; I have no claim to it and or them.**

The Commander wasn't sure if she should have brought the Colonel to Omega. They had spent over two days teaching him everything he would need to know about the mission, aliens, and most importantly: How to fire their weapons.

To the Commanders relief they didn't need to go over too much, even with a hundred-seventy years of difference in weaponry there wasn't any need to change how they worked, point and pull the trigger. All they needed to show him was how to reload and eject thermal clips.

"It's a whole new galaxy out there Colonel, I hope I don't have to worry about you shooting an alien out of panic," She spoke as they stood near the airlock, waiting for the ship to dock.

He stood in a military camouflaged armor, the "Ranger" insignia painted on the side of his shoulder armor. Wearing armor was another thing they had to run him through. The Colonel could only be amazed that the armor had a built in shield to absorb bullets and (depending on the shields) could take the brunt of an explosion. The red headed Commander was worried the armor would have been too heavy for him; she hadn't realized that he had to carry far more than the weight of the armor and weapons combined a long time ago. After he got accustomed to the armor he had asked if they could paint it over, hence the military camouflage.

"I won't cause trouble Commander," He promised to her as he hefted an Avenger rifle in his hands, he preferred short accurate bursts over a 'spray-and-pray' weapon, but it was the only thing they had at the moment so he made do.

"I hope so…have you gotten a hand on the omni-tool?" She asked, almost as if she was going through a check list as if reassuring herself she was making the right decision.

He held up his right armored arm, the omni-tool appearing around his arm before a blade popped out from it before he lowered his arm, the orange blade slipping back in before he replied "I've gotten that down, along with communications Commander…" his green eyes looked at her for a long moment as if he guessed what she was thinking, "You don't have to bring me Ma'am if you don't think I can handle it."

She shook her head before she saw Miranda come up by them, armed and ready for action, the black haired woman and black haired man had come to terms after their little spat, and it was Miranda that informed him of the L5 implants that were put in.

"Commander," The Cerberus operative nodded at the red haired woman before she looked over at the Ranger before she asked, "Have you tried the practices I gave to you?" Refering to the practice of using biotics.

The Colonel shook his head, slipping the rifle over his shoulder, setting it in its holder before he responded, "With all due respect Miss Lawson…I'd rather not toy with something like that so soon, don't worry, I'll hold my weight."

The airlock hissed open before anyone else could say a word, Shepard nodded over to the door, walking towards the opening door as she said, "Welcome to a new world Colonel."

"_This is a new world?" _He thought to himself as he walked out onto the concrete looking ground, the floor was covered with trash and the walls were painted over with graffiti, it reminded him more of New York City, when someone goes down the wrong alley and gets jumped.

And it seemed like they were about to be jumped when he saw his first alien, a salarian from what he remembered from the holo he was shown. He rather thought their big eyes and antenna like things on their heads made them look rather harmless, if not a bit adorable, though that effect was killed with this salarian who shook like he had a drug issue.

"Y-You're new here aren't you, I can tell," He said in a shaky tone, if the Colonel wasn't aware of the translators put in his ears he would have been stunned at being able to understand the alien. The salarian moved closer offering his 'help', "Allow me to—" was all he got out before a different alien came up with four eyes, this one must have been a batarian.

"Leave Fargut…now" The four eyed alien growled, causing the salarian to high tail it out of there, seeming satisfied with himself the batarian looked over at the Commander. "Aria T'loak wants to see you Shepard, I suggest you get over to Afterlife," The man informed her, Daemon figured the growling bit was just how he talked, or he was still trying to be intimidating still.

Shepard didn't take kindly to it either way, she leaned back crossing her armored arms, "You can tell her to relax, I'm not here to cause trouble," She responded, Daemon noted how her eyes seemed to spark like storm clouds when she narrowed her eyes.

The batarian seemed a bit taken aback; he must have caught the spark in her eyes before he started to reason with her, "Things tend to explode around you Shepard. You can't blame Aria for being curious what brings a dead Spectre to Omega."

The Colonel watched as Shepard just shrugged as if saying 'Touché', "We'll head right over there then."

That seemed to satisfy the four eyed alien because he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "Just go out and go straight, can't miss it," He directed them before turning, walking away.

"Sounds like this Aria is the one to talk to if we want to find Archangel and the Doctor," He noted, his green eyes glancing over at the Commander.

"_Mr. Daemon may be correct Shepard, broadcasts show that the local mercenary groups have been forming together to take down Archangel, and the slums that the Doctor is located has been isolated due to a plague outbreak," _EDI's voice chimed in through their communications _"This Aria may be able to give more details."_. Daemon didn't mistrust the AI like the others did, having no experience with them save if one counted playing "Portal", though when he thought about it that way he hoped EDI didn't go GLaDOS on them.

Daemon watched as Shepard took it all in before responding, "Thanks EDI." She seemed to have made up her mind because she started to walk forward, he couldn't help but not the smirk curling on her lips before she said, "Let's see what the Afterlife is like."

Apparently it was very loud, very dark, and very bright at the same time, not to mention crowded. It was hard for Daemon to comprehend what was going on around him, he brushed against aliens he had never seen yet, not like could he take the time to see who they were since Shepard was plowing ahead without stopping to look back. It wasn't long until they climbed up steps past a pair of what looked to be guards, once they reached the top he saw a mass of guards and a woman standing with their back to them. The Colonel watched as Shepard moved towards the woman.

"That's close enough," the blue woman spoke out before a mass of guns rose up, pointing at Shepard and at him and Miranda. He was tempted to draw his rifle, but he knew that if he did he'd be shot in the few five seconds it took to grab and raise the rifle. Miranda seemed to have not come to the same conclusion since she went to grab her pistol; he suddenly reached out, grabbing her wrist, shaking his head, the woman thankfully relaxed.

He watched as a batarian stepped in front of Shepard, holding what looked like a blue hologram of her body, a scan perhaps? Shepard seemed unsure either since she reached down, pulling out her pistol, wiggling it in his face saying, "If you're looking for weapons you're doing a terrible job."

"Can't be too careful with dead Spectres," Aria explained, glancing just slightly over her shoulder, "That could be anyone wearing your face."

"I was told you were the person to come to if I had questions," Shepard guessed. Daemon couldn't help but smile just a little when she tried to look tough while leaning to look around the batarian, standing on one foot to do it.

The batarian seemed satisfied with whatever the scans said because he lowered his arm announcing, "They're clean" the guards finally lowering their weapons. Daemon relaxed, he looked over at Miranda, she not so much, though she didn't have the advantage he had.

After the guard moved away from Shepard he was finally able to see Arias' face as she turned around to look at the Commander and finally recognized her as an asari. He admitted to himself that she was what his old team would call 'hot' if they knew about the alien race in the first place, but the look in her eyes told him that she'd sooner kill them then get friendly.

"Depends on the question," Aria stated as she crossed her arms, looking Shepard up and down.

Shepard seemed to have already known which question to ask first, "You run Omega?"

That got a laugh out of the asari, she turned around, held her arms out and proclaimed _"I am Omega"_ her voice seemed to have been amplified.

"A bit over dramatic…" He murmured softly, only Miranda seemed to have heard from the tiny laugh that escaped her lips.

The blue woman turned around looking directly at Shepard, "But you need more," she guessed turning her body to the side, looking up "Everyone needs more something, and they come to me." She wasn't done with her little spiel it seemed since she continued, "I'm the boss, CEO, queen if you're feeling…dramatic." Daemon wondered if she had actually heard him when she fell onto the couch lightly, arms stretched out on the top edge as she crossed one leg over the other, "Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule…Don't. Fuck. With Aria," her lips curled into a wicked grin.

Shepard could have had a grin on her on lips, He couldn't tell from his angle, "I like it," The Commander stated, "easy to remember."

Aria didn't seem to care what the Commander thought because she got right to it, "What do you want Shepard."

The red haired Commander got down to it, sitting down on the sofa away from the asari, "I'm trying to track down Archangel."

"You and half of Omega, you want him dead too?" The asari looked over at Shepard with a perked brow.

"_That's not good,"_ Daemon thought, and Shepard must have agreed because she frowned at that point, leaning forward.

"Why's everyone after him?" She asked.

"He thinks he's fighting on the side of good," Aria scoffed at that, "there is no good side to Omega. Everything he does pisses someone off. It's catching up to him."

Daemon watched as a smile crept up onto the red haired womans' face, "Just exactly the kind of guy I'm looking for."

"Well aren't you interesting," The asari sounded amused, but hardly interested, "You're going to make a lot of enemies teaming up with Archangel. Assuming you can get to him, he's in a bit of trouble now."

Daemon watched as Shepards' grey eyes narrowed, "How much trouble?" She asked.

"_Nothing can be easy can it?" _Shepard thought to herself as she walked towards the recruitment room the mercs had set up in the club, the door opening to a batarian in Blue Suns armor behind a terminal, his four eyes looking up to look at them.

"You three look like you could do some damage," He observed before tapping at the terminal, "looking for a good fight?"

She grilled him for details first, not wanting to seem _too_ eager. However, he couldn't give her much, or _wouldn't_, finally she said, "Sign us up."

Just when she and the group were about to leave to be taken to the drop off point, a kid that just barely looked eighteen walked in trying to sound tough when he asked, "Hey is this where I sign up?"

Before Shepard could say anything she saw Daemon step up to the kid, "You're a bit young for this kind of thing aren't you?"

"I'm old enough!" the kid said defensively, "I grew up on Omega; I know how to use a gun."

"And that automatically makes you a professional freelancer does it?" Daemon perked his black eyebrow up. Shepard stayed silent; she wanted to see how he would deal with this.

"I can handle myself," He sneered, pulling out his pistol, "besides I just spent fifty credits on this, and I wanna—" the kid yelped as Daemon suddenly grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, yanking him close.

"Get your money back…" Daemon said in almost a threatening tone, snatching the pistol from the kids hand, looking at it before he bashed it against the wall, the poorly crafted weapon breaking from the impact before he tossed it to the side, turning to walk away saying, "You'll thank me later."

"Good work Colonel," Shepard told the Ranger as they left Afterlife, "You probably just saved his life."

Her grey eyes met his green eyes as he looked at her before looking down, "I've seen too many kids sign up because they think a gun makes them a man, most of them end up in pine boxes."

Shepard could only nod her head in understanding, she had seen the same thing, "Kids don't belong in war," She agreed sympathetically, and she only got a nod of agreement from the Colonel.

"Did you have any kids Colonel?" the aussi accented voice of Miranda asked all of the sudden, before she and Shepard saw him freeze for a moment. Miranda looked ashamed, "I'm sorry Colonel…" She apologized, "I didn't mean-" she stopped when the man looked at her.

"No, I didn't", He said flatly, "I'd rather not think about the past with all due respect Miss. Lawson." Shepard watched as Miranda just looked down, nodding her head silently.

Shepard led the group in an awkward silence to the batarian in Blue Suns armor near the skycar, it seemed he was told ahead of time they were coming since the door opened wide. Shepard looked back at Miranda and then Daemon; they both just nodded their heads to say they were ready before they stepped in.

Daemon just stared out of the window as they 'drove' through the air, he would have been more amazed if he wasn't so deep in thought. _"Did you have any kids Colonel?"_, Lawsons'question repeated over and over in his mind. No, he didn't have any kids, but his sisters, Hannah and Mariah, they could have had kids. _"Please let them have been able to move on…" _He prayed silently to himself, they had just lost their mother almost a year before, could they handle loosing another family member so soon? He had done well so far not thinking about the past, about everything he lost, but when it came to a lull in moving, in action, his mind couldn't help but wander. And that's when he started thinking of a bullet to the head, until he thought of the Ranger's Creed…the only thing he had to hold onto. "_Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission though I be the lone survivor…"_ He murmured out loud, though he didn't realize it.

"You said that before…on the ship when you woke up," He heard Shepard point out, he turned his head to look at her before she asked, "Where does that come from?"

He turned his head back to the window, seeing the reflection of the Commander looking at him intently before he answered, "It's the last part of the Ranger Creed," his hand rising up, brushing against the painted on "Rangers" on his shoulder. "All Rangers take that oath and we follow it to the letter," he finished, looking over at the two.

"What are the other parts?" Miranda asked next, she seemed curious to know.

He could only just smile a little, looking at them, he was about to answer before the vehicle descended towards their destination. He squared his shoulders, looking straight ahead; it was time to get down to business.

"_If there is one thing predictable about you Shepard…Is your compassion for people you don't even know." _Those words from the Illusive Man came to her mind as she picked up the electrical screwdriver, looking at the Blue Suns mechanic as he worked on the helicopter. She slowly walked over to him; standing by him she said four words:

"You're working too hard"

"What-" was the single word that escaped his lips before she slammed the screw driver into his back, the electricity coursing through his body before she jerked the bloody tool out, tossing it into the engine, hoping to mess something up in it before she walked away thinking grimly to herself, _"Predict that ya whisky sipping prick…"_

She looked over at Miranda and Daemon, if they had any disagreements on her methods they didn't show it. She walked past them, cracking her knuckles as she walked towards the bridge, pulling out her rifle. As she reached the bridge she smiled, "C'mon, we'll give these guys a surprise of our own." She burst into a sprint Avenger rifle in hand, she could hear the light breathing of Daemon on her left and the click of heels from Miranda on her right. She looked up and saw Archangel with his sniper rifle, she couldn't see his face due to the helmet, but she had a guess who the rifle was pointing at. It was confirmed when she heard Daemon grunt and then suddenly Miranda as their shields were taken out, and that confused her. _"I'm the closest, why not shoot at me?" _she thought, and then looked over to see her companions' shields regenerate which caused another thought to run through her mind, _"He could have taken them out, why not?"_ Ever since she heard it was a turian sniper, she had the slightest hope it was her old friend, perhaps that hope just got a little bit brighter.

"Come on!" one of the free lancers shouted before he turned his back on them, bending down to set up one of the explosives.

"You heard the man," Shepard called out with a smile "Open fire!" her rifle firing off its rounds, Daemon and Mirandas' guns blazing next to her as they dropped the men in front of them.

One of the mercs was bright enough to connect the dots shouting out, "They're with Arch-!" He was interrupted with a shot to the throat, blood gushing out his neck as he hit the ground.

"Up the stairs!" Shepard shouted as she pushed forward, there weren't enough mercs to hold the three back. It wasn't long until she made it up stairs, only two mercenaries between them and Archangel; needless to say they did not last long. She thought she'd have to hack through the door, but it opened a few moments later, she came in weapons raised looking around the room before she looked over to the turian in blue armor, "Archangel?" she asked.

The turian raised a blue armored finger up as if saying 'one moment', his scope trained on one last mercenary on the bridge, a 'bang' resounding from the rifle before the target dropped a second later. He seemed to be scanning the bridge for a moment before he set the rifle down, leaning against the pillar near the ledge he slowly pulled off the helmet.

Shepard's lips let out a soft gasp, she had to keep herself from running over to hug her dearest friend: Garrus Vakarian. "Garrus!" She said in surprise, her small hopes shown true as she moved towards her old friend.

"Shepard…" He murmured, looking at her as if he was seeing a ghost, "I thought you were dead."

"I got better…", She laughed before she stopped to explain, "Cerberus rebuilt me Garrus, with strings attached, but what are you doing here?"

"A little target practice," He said in a tone that sounded so laid back she would have believed it if she didn't know better, "just keeping my skills sharp."

Her smile faded as her grey eyes looked at him concerned, "Are you okay Garrus?" She asked.

The turian looked down for a moment before he responded to her, "I've been better, but it sure is good to see a friendly face, killing mercs is _hard_ work." That little bit of humor coming to him before he looked out the window before he added sadly, "Especially on my own."

The look on his face caused her chest to tighten; she had only seen that look when that insane doctor shot himself so long ago. She moved over to his side, her hand touching his shoulder, giving a small smile before she asked, "So when did you start calling yourself Archangel?" She wanted badly to get rid of the sadness on his face.

That did the trick; she imagined that if he could blush this would be one of those times. He coughed for a moment before he replied, "It's what the locals started to call me for my good deeds," an embarrassed laugh escaped him before he looked at her, "I don't mind it, but please it's just Garrus to you."

She couldn't help but laugh at the pleading look on his face before she looked out the window, "Well we got in here, getting out is going to be a whole different task."

"That's the truth of it," he sighed, she watched him square his shoulders, getting back down to business. "That bridge has saved my life," He pointed out to the bridge "funneling those morons into my scope…but it works both ways; they'll slaughter us if we try to cross."

"So we just sit here and wait for them to take us out?" Miranda asked, her tone sounding as if it was the dumbest thing she had heard in her life.

Shepard would have said something to the XO if Garrus hadn't spoke up first, "It's not all that bad, it's held them off so far…and with three of you…" She watched his mandibles twitch as his voice faded off into thought before he nodded his head. "I suggest we hold this location, wait for a crack in their defenses and take our chances," He said, looking over at Shepard, he must have wanted her opinion on the plan.

She liked it, looking out the window again as she said, "If we work as a team we'll hold them off."

"You're right," Garrus nodded before he picked up his Mantis rifle again, raising it as he looked through the scope murmuring, "Let's see what they're up to…looks like they know they're infiltration team failed, looks like Eclipse are sending in their mechs." He held out his sniper rifle to her to look through.

She took the rifle, looking through the scope, the arrows of the scope aimed straight for its head; she just smiled before she suddenly fired; the robotic head exploding before its body fell. "That's one less to worry about," she said as she handed it back to him.

She heard him chuckle as he took it back, "I'll stay up here, I can do some damage from this vantage point, and you?" She felt his eyes on her as she moved her eyes to meet him before he said, "You do what you do best Shepard."

She smiled at him again before she looked around the room, seeing an M-15 Vindicator Rifle just resting on the couch; she walked over to it, her omni-tool scanning it before sending its blueprints to the Normandy, figuring it would be best to get more of them. She picked up the rifle before she tossed it over to the Colonel, "Five round bursts, that's what you prefer over rapid fire right?" She had noticed that he preferred precision shots over sloppy spraying bullets, much like her.

Daemon caught the rifle with one hand before he set the Avenger rifle down. She watched as he hefted it in his hands, feeling its weight before she saw a smile creep on his lips before nodding his head, "Yes Ma'am," He replied, the spark in his green eyes let her know he was ready.

Garrus got into position with his Mantis rifle, looking over his shoulder at her before he gave her a slight wink, "Just like old times Shepard."

She just laughed before she gave an order, "Alright, let's line up and drop them before they reach the end of the bridge," She said, Miranda and Daemon joining her near Garrus as they raised their weapons up into firing position, waiting for when the mechs got closer before she shouted, "Open fire!"

The Vindicator rifle made it so much easier for him to pick his targets during the wave of walking robots and aliens in yellow armor. With that and the rest of the group they were able to keep the so called 'Eclipse' back; he even laughed when they pulled out the huge robot that they had tampered with before the infiltration began. All they had to do was lay back and let the huge piece of metal tear through its own people before they finally took it down, their victory short lived after he and Garrus sniped them from afar.

The leader of the Eclipse, Jaroth, he recalled, must have had enough because he finally joined in in the rush across the bridge, he saw a strange glow around his armor which must have been his shields. Daemon reached into a pouch on his belt, Shepard had given him a visor that hooked onto his ear like a hearing aid, he slipped it onto his left ear, the camouflage piece extended, a green colored lens appearing in front of his left eye, he could see the energy left in the enemies shield in a blue bar before he started to fire.

The shield bar started to drop as he kept the pressure on the salarians' shields, the blue bar finally fading away before a sniper round from Garrus finished the job, and then everything went silent afterwards.

"Looks like that's all of them," Garrus said after a pause, "We have some time before they regroup." He punched off a thermal clip from his rifle before putting in a fresh round "You're kicking ass Shepard," he said with what Daemon could only take as praise to the Commander, "they barely touched me, and we got Jaroth in the process." He caught Garrus looking at him and giving him a slight nod, that's when he realized that he was fighting side by side with an alien, and didn't even take note of it, he only saw him as another soldier. With that revelation in mind he nodded his head back in recognition.

"That just leaves the Blood Pack and Blue Suns," Shepard noted, Daemon looked over at her as she asked, "Think we can make a break for it?"

"Maybe…", Garrus responded thoughtfully before he turned back over to the window, picking up his sniper rifle, looking through the scope, "let's see what they're up to…they reinforced the other side heavily…but they aren't moving, what are they waiting for?"

That question answered itself when Daemon and no doubt the rest of them heard the resounding _Boom_ the building shake and the alarms, "That does not sound good," he murmured, rather not wanting to point out the obvious, but couldn't keep it from escaping his lips.

"Damn it!" Garrus cursed, rising up his omni-tool to look at the screen before he reported, "They've breached the lower levels." Daemon could hear the sigh of 'oh well' coming from the turian before he said, "Well they had to use their brains eventually, you'd better get down there Shepard, I'll keep the bridge clear."

Shepard apparently didn't like that idea because she shook her head before she pointed at him, "I'm leaving the Colonel with you Garrus, we'll split up two and two, Miranda you're with me." She turned, walking to the door, Miranda right behind her.

"You sure Shepard?" Garrus asked, Daemon looked over at the turian curiously. If it was a human who said it in the tone that Garrus did, he'd wonder if there was something more going on between the blue armored sniper and the red headed Commander though perhaps human tones and alien tones were the same? Garrus' voice interrupted his thoughts, "You don't know what you'll find down there."

Shepard didn't seem to catch the tone because she just tossed her head back with a laugh before she looked at the turian with a smile saying, "I think I have to remind you who you're talking to Garrus, we'll be back in a moment!" She left, waving her hand before Miranda followed suit.

Daemon walked over towards Garrus, he had never talked to an alien before. _"Just go with the basics…"_ He thought to himself before he held his hand out "Colonel Daemon Heraldson, Army Rangers," he introduced himself to the turian, he couldn't help but sound hesitant, not to mention with holding out his hand, did turians shake hands?

To his relief Garrus took his hand smoothly, shaking firmly before the turian replied, "Garrus Vakarian, Ex C-Sec and vigilante" he added with a slight chuckle. Daemon must have had a funny look on his face for Garrus to ask, "Never talked to a turian before?"

He sighed softly, this was going to come up sooner or later, he answered with, "This is my first time talking to an alien, I even saw my first alien today," if the first statement made Garrus perk up a proverbial brow, that second one would have sent it even higher.

"Where in the galaxy have you been?" Garrus asked with what he had to assume was with incredulousness as the turian set up his perch, holding his sniper rifle as he aimed it at the bridge.

"Frozen," Daemon replied simply, setting up near the turian, rifle in hand, pointing it at the bridge.

He could almost feel the turians eyes on him when he asked curiously, "How long?"

Daemon watched as enemies blipped on the screen of his visor, seeing them as they crossed the bridge he just shrugged, "A hundred-seventy years…give or take." He could only smile just a little as the priceless look on the turians face in his peripheral vision before he started to fire.

Between him and Garrus it was easy to keep the Blood Pack from getting across the bridge. He listened on his com as Shepard closed each door to keep the Blood Pack from getting in through the back, during the times the numbers were low on the bridge Garrus would keep pestering him about his comment.

"You're serious?" He asked again for the third time, blasting the head off of an ugly looking alien called a vorcha.

"I am, listen for a moment," Daemon said with a sigh, shooting down a strange dog like thing which he was told later was a varren, but right now he had to tell the turian something, "When I tell you to get down Vakarian," He called him Vakarian since he didn't feel comfortable calling him by his first name, not wanting to get close since he didn't plan on living long after defeating the Collecters. "You have less than three seconds to get down, understand? Doesn't matter where I am, you _do it_."

He said it with an intensity that caused Garrus to look at him, "Alright Colonel," he finally agreed, the turian looked down at his omni-tool before looking back to him, "Shepard's closed the last door."

That should have made Daemon relax, until he heard a _hiss_ of sparks coming from behind them, he quickly got up, moving over to the other side "Dammit, that door," he cursed, pointing at the door that glowed yellow.

Garrus quickly joined him before he raised his hand up to his come "Get back quick Shepard, they're coming through the door." After he said it the door burst open wide.

Daemon watched as the krogan from before and vorcha burst in, the alien that looked like a frog fucked a camel growling, "Raaah! Rip 'em to shreds!" a vorchas' head bursting into guts and blood from a turian sniper rifle brought his attention to them. The frog-camel bred alien didn't seem to care, looking back at the vorcha he grumbled, "Watch my back, I'll deal with Archangel."

Daemon caught Shepard and Miranda coming back through the door, engaging the Blood Pack mercs that stayed down stairs. It was clear that they wouldn't be able to get through in time before Garm got to him and Archangel, but he and the turian should be able to handle it…or so he thought.

"Colonel, Blue Suns are coming across the bridge," The turian informed him, looking out over the otherside.

Daemon was already firing at the krogan climbing the stairs, a purple bar of a barrier slowly sliding down "Cover that side!" he ordered, "I'll keep this guy busy."

"If that krogan starts charging you get out of the way!" Garrus warned him as he started to fire at the bridge.

By the time the krogan got up the stairs his barriers were gone, Daemon had to move over to the door, standing in front of it, eyes meeting with the reptilian eyes before Garrus' warning became true. The krogan suddenly let out a battle cry before he started to charge, building up steam.

"_If he gets in here we're screwed,"_ He realized before he looked down at his omni-tool, an idea came to his mind, it was crazy, suicidal, but so was half the things he did back so long ago. He took a deep breath before he let out a roar of his own and did what probably everyone thought you _shouldn't_ do. He charged the krogan.

Garrus had seen a lot of things today that shocked him, seeing Shepard alive he thought was the thing that took the surprised cake. That was until he heard a blood curdling cry, a tingle of fear rolling down his spine, the krogan was charging. "Colonel!" he shouted, turning before he looked over, seeing the man in camouflage armor standing in the door way, looking down at his arm. He wondered why the Colonel wasn't moving until he saw him taking a deep breath, suddenly roaring out and doing something that no sane man should do. _"He's charging the krogan?"_ He thought, too stunned to think anything else as he ran over to the other window, hoping to get a shot at Garm, but it was too late. He cringed as he waited for the Colonel to run smack into the krogan, only to be run down or thrown off the level. Instead, just when they were about to meet the Ranger suddenly went into a baseball slide, his omni-tool glowing bright red as a blade slid out from it, suddenly lunging right into the on rushing krogan. Garm couldn't stop himself, running right into the blade, the blazing heat burning through his armor and into his flesh, dragging down as the Colonel slid between the krogans legs, blood spewing from the huge gash before Garm suddenly fell to the ground, unmoving. The Colonel slid on the ground on his back, covered in blood, the blade of the omni-tool sliding back into place. "Son of a bitch…" he murmured, now _that_ took the surprise cake of the day.

His eyes so focused on what just happened he didn't hear the helicopter behind him, not until the Colonel suddenly shouted, "GET DOWN!"

Garrus slowly turned around, seeing the gun ship, seeing the rocket flying towards him, he dived for cover.

A ball of flames burst out through the window, and a female voice cried out, "GARRUS!"

**And so ends the third chapter of this story! Please tell me what you think, remember that all grammar flubs are my fault. Please read and review!**


	4. Spoonful of Sugar

Five Seconds

Chapter 4: Spoonful of Sugar

**Authors note: Hello everyone that is reading this, I've finally come up with a bit of a schedule when it comes to these chapters. I will post as many chapters as I can during the week, but when I start working full time again it will be difficult to get as many chapters out as I'd like, so I will make this promise: I will do all I can to get two chapters or so out a week, but if not, I SWEAR that there will be at least one chapter out a week, you can hold me to that! I got so excited when I got my first favorite alert, (Must be doing SOMETHING right yeah?) Also I forgot to put spacers in last time, sorry about that, will have them in this one! Makes it less confusing. So without further ado so begins the fourth chapter! I do not own anything in the Mass Effect Series, Bioware and EA own it, lucky suckers.**

"_I always liked Mordin," Aria said with a slight smile on her face before looking at Shepard, "He's as likely to heal you as he is to shoot you." _

Those words echoed in Shepards' head as she walked down the steps to the clinic that the Doctor owned, Zaeed the mercenary/bounty hunter extraordinaire and Miranda in tow.

* * *

After taking out the gun ship with a grenade launcher it took everything Shepard had to keep herself together when she saw Garrus on the ground bleeding out in a pool of blue blood. She thought she felt her emotions falling apart when she didn't see him breathe, only to have it snap back into place when he took in a ragged breath. She and Daemon, still covered in krogan blood, lifted him up using two poles from the bunk beds and a sheet from the same bed, using it as a kind of stretcher. After they got him back to the Normandy Doctor Chakwas and a few Cerberus medics took the turian from Shepard and Daemons care, though the two stuck nearby, Shepard the most intent on staying with. However, they had to keep her from coming into the med bay; it took logical reasoning and the Colonels hand on her shoulder to keep herself from barging in anyways.

She had stood in front of the glass, still in her cherry red armor; Daemon had left to wash off the krogan blood from his armor and body, practically making her swear not to rush into the med bay, though every fiber of her being wanted to. _"Come on you tough bastard…"_ She thought to herself as she stared through the window at the beeping machines, praying that they didn't flat line, _"You can get through this…"_ She said in her mind, though whether it was just to Garrus or herself, or both, she couldn't tell. She could only wonder if she would be an even worse wreck if it was Kaiden in there right then and not her closest friend, but she couldn't think about him in the state she was in without feeling her eyes start to become blurry.

Thankfully a distraction came in the form of Jacob and Daemon who was wearing loose green camouflage jeans with a belt and a white t-shirt, the clothes she had ordered for him had arrived while they were down on Omega, his dog tags around his neck. Jacob and Daemon both gave a salute, before they stood near her, "How is he?" Daemon asked, his green eyes looking at the window.

"I don't know…he just got in," Shepard answered, looking over at the two, the blurriness in her eyes had faded in a blink, "How are you feeling Colonel? Being back on the field in an alien place must have been tough."

She watched as Daemon shrugged his shoulders, she noted that his physical size was in the middle, he wasn't lean, but he didn't have the bulk of those body builders she saw on the vids, he was just somewhere in between. "Didn't feel any different to be honest, one-hundred seventy years and it's still the same, same violence, different weapons and uniforms," he responded, "The only thing different is the type of opponents I'm up against," a small smile forming on his lips, she knew he was thinking about Garm the krogan Blood Pack leader.

"I heard that you tackled a krogan on your own," Jacob piped in finally, slapping his hand on the Colonels shoulder, "Damn what I would have given to have seen that."

Daemon just shrugged his shoulders before he looked at the glass at the medics at work, "Think he'll make it Commander?" asking the million dollar question.

She stayed silent, her lips pressing together as she looked at the window again, "He better…" she murmured, her fingers twitched, a sudden rush of nervous energy running through her veins, she had to move, burn off energy, suddenly pacing back and forth from the window to the cooking counter Mr. Gardener worked on.

She heard nothing from the two men for a moment before Jacob chipped in, "You could always go back to Omega, we still need to get the Professor and the Bounty Hunter. When you get back the surgery should be over."

She stopped for a moment, her hands clenching, she didn't want to leave Garrus alone, not with Cerberus, she looked over at the Colonel, his green eyes looked back, standing soldierly straight, hands behind his back. She could rely on him "Keep an eye on them Colonel, they try to do anything to him I'm trusting you to protect him," She ordered as she walked back over to the window, catching a glimpse of the prone figure of Garrus for a moment before the doctors blocked her view.

She belatedly realized that he wouldn't have any idea if they were going to do anything to the turian, being technologically impaired, though neither would she, but instead of pointing that out he gave her a salute saying, "Yes Ma'am."

"_Still…"_ She thought to herself when she looked at the Colonel, _"At least it's someone that __**isn't**__ Cerberus,"_ She reasoned, it made her at least feel a bit better, also the Colonel deserved a break, to collect his thoughts. Also she imagined it wouldn't be hygienic running around in armor soaked in krogan blood. She looked over at Jacob, nodding her head as she said, "Grab Miranda and gear up, we leave in an hour." Walking towards the elevators was harder then she thought it would be, as if she was tearing off duct tape that attached her to the med bay window, even when the elevator closed.

* * *

So it was she went back to Omega the same day. Finding Zaeed wasn't too hard after asking around (and buying FDA couplings for the engineer monkeys), she finally found him in the back of an ally in yellow battle worn armor, gun pointing straight at what must have been his bounty since he kneed the batarian in the groin, sending him sprawling to the ground. The batarian gasped for air as his four eyes looked at her, "Please…" he begged, "You have to help me…"

The bounty hunter didn't take kindly with that grumbling in a gravely british accent, "No one said you could talk jackass," giving the man the ground another firm kick to his groin.

She thought it was probably best that she spoke up before the mercenary decided to do more, "Zaeed Massani?" She asked.

The pepper haired merc turned around at the sound of her voice, she finally got a look at this feared bounty hunter. She imagined that if he was younger and didn't look as if half his face was redone he would be handsome, but like his armor he looked like he had been through and seen a lot in his time. "You must be Commander Shepard," he guessed right on the dot, "I hear we've got a galaxy to save."

"I take it you've been briefed?" She asked, wondering how much he knew.

"I've done my homework," he answered gruffly, "Cerberus sent me everything I needed to know."

After that she had grilled him more about his dealings with Cerberus, and about the batarian. She finally out stretched her hand, which he took firmly, albeit painfully hard as she said, "Good to have you Zaeed, we could use you after you drop him off, meet us near the quarantined area and we'll fill you in."

Instead of just taking his target and going he held his hand up "Just one more thing," he mentioned as he looked at her, "I assume the Illusive Man told you about our arrangement?"

That caused her to frown with annoyance as she shook her head, "No," she replied, "I guess he decided to leave that bit out."

"Good thing I asked then," he moved a bit closer to her before he continued, telling her about the leader of the Blue Suns and how he took over a refinery and was using the workers for slaves.

Her frowned deepened after that, but she nodded her head "I'll make sure we'll get that done," She promised.

"Good," He said with what might have been a satisfied tone, "get it done so then we can focus on being big goddamn heroes." That's when the batarian suddenly took off at a run. Not fast enough since the bounty hunter raised his pistol lazily, firing off a shot and nailing the running man in the leg, sending him sprawling to the ground. Zaeed holstered his weapon, picking up the convict, promising to meet them at the quarantine.

As they left the alley she looked over at Jacob saying, "Head back to the Normandy, I want to see Zaeed in real action."

Jacob gave her a salute before saying, "Understood Commander, I'll contact you when they're done with the surgery."

After he left Shepard and Miranda made their way to the quarantine, stopping just near the corner. She leaned back against the wall, her red hair pressing against the stone as she stared up at the sky, She must have looked troubled because Miranda asked, "You alright Commander? We could have waited for tomorrow to do this."

She looked down at the raven haired woman, her eyes the womans' face for any sense of sincerity in her question. After a moment she just sighed before she answered, "I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyways; I'd still be stuck in front of the med bay window."

"To make sure he makes it through? Or that Cerberus doesn't do anything to him."

"Both," She replied flatly, looking the Cerberus operative in the eye.

"Commander…", Miranda sighed as if this was a conversation they had too many times already, "Why would we do anything to him? We'd be risking the mission if we messed with him in any way."

"Says the woman that wanted to put a chip in my brain," She shot back, causing the paler woman to flinch before looking away; she didn't seem to have a response to that.

To Shepards' relief Zaeed had arrived just moments after to dispel the awkward silence between her and Miranda. "So why are we going into a diseased pit?" Zaeed asked as he nodded over at the door guarded by a turian.

"We need to pick up a doctor by the name of Mordin Solus," Shepard answered as she crossed her arms, "He may have something we need to counteract the Collectors." That seemed to have been all he needed to know since he started walking towards the turian. After a bit of persuasion from Shepard and a possible flashing of a grenade launcher and they were allowed through, to Shepards' relief the plague didn't affect humans, though she wasn't one to be turned away by a damned cough.

* * *

It didn't take long for trouble to start after they went in deeper into the slums, Blue Suns started firing, but either they were poorly trained or the plague was affecting them as it was easy to take them out. After promising an ill batarian to get him help from the clinic she learned a few things from him: A: Doctor Solus scared everyone after gunning down a group of Blue Suns that tried to rough up the clinic, and B: The vorcha started moving in right after the plague hit, but everyone didn't think they'd be smart enough to make something like a plague.

After that they just had to fight through vorcha territory. During all of this she started to see why Zaeed was considered the most feared mercenary in the galaxy. If he didn't get his target with a gun, which he almost always did, he certainly got them with explosives, a LOT of explosives. She started to wonder if his armor was so battered because of his own explosions and not just from enemies.

Either way with his explosives and Mirandas' biotics they were able to cut through quickly to get where they were now, walking down the steps and into the clinic after holstering their weapons. As she approached the counter she asked, "Mordin Solus?"

The receptionist pointed to her left before she replied, "Down the hall to the right…" she looked at Shepards' arms and armor saying, "Try and keep those in their holsters."

Shepard nodded her head at the woman as she walked towards the hall, looking around at all the patients affected by the plague; she was amazed how the doctor had kept the clinic going since resources had to have been limited. It was only when they got closer could she fathom how he kept it going, a voice called out, "Professor we're running out of cipoxidin."

The voice that responded came so fast she almost didn't understand what was said, "Use malanarin. Plenty on hand. Almost as good. Causes cramping in batarians. Supplement with butemerol."

The other voice called out "Got it."

The other voice which she now figured was Mordin continued, "Cenozine is the catalyst, bonds to genetic markers, hard to find, expensive to mass produce," a short pause, "why not heplacore?"

"_So he's a scrapper…"_ She thought as she entered the room, seeing an older salarian moving about.

She finally came to the conclusion that he thought out loud since he changed his mind the moment she came in. "Too unstable," he realized, "inconsistent results, demozane better option," he reasoned before he blinked, "no demozane toxic to humans, not an option, not an option."

Before he could go into another long stream of thought she came forward asking, "Professor Mordin Solus?"

He seemed to have liked figuring things out instead of asking questions because he just lifted his omni-tool, scanning her before lowering his arm and starting another line of thought. "Hmmm," he wondered before continuing, "Don't recognize you from area, too well-armed to be refugees. No mercenary uniform, quarantine still in effect." He turned away from them looking at a terminal, still stuck in his thought process, "Here for something else, vorcha? Crew to clean them out? Unlikely, vorcha symptom not cause…"

"My god does he ever shut up?" Zaeed looked over at the nurse, the nurse just shrugged as if he wondered that every day.

Shepard was starting to wonder the same before she tuned back into the professors ponderings; finally she had enough and cut in. "Relax Mordin," she said, _"For the love of God please relax,"_ she thought before continuing, "I'm Commander Shepard, I came here to find you." She waited for a moment to see if he was listening, he was so she proceeded, "I'm on a critical mission, and I need your help."

He quickly shook his head before saying, "No, too busy, clinic understaffed, plague spreading too fast. Who sent you?"

She had braced herself for another long ramble that the sudden question caught her off guard for a moment before she answered, "Ever hear of a group called Cerberus?"

"Cerberus?" Mordin said curiously, "Thought they only worked with humans, unexpected."

Seeing she had his attention still she continued, "The Collectors are kidnapping entire human populations, and we're going to find out why and stop them."

"Collectors, interesting," Mordin paused, looking down thoughtfully before continuing, "One of few that could generate plague, our goals may be similar." He turned back to the terminal, tapping at the screen before he said, "Need to deal with plague first, use vents to spread cure, vorcha guarding environmental control center," he took a deep breath, "need to kill them."

"Now you're talkin'", Zaeed jumped in, punching his fist into the palm of his hand.

"Give us the cure and we'll take care of it," She promised.

That's when everything went to hell, suddenly the lights went out and the red glow of emergency lights turned on, the vents slowly turning off. "What the hell was that?" Miranda asked, Zaeed nodding as if she beat him to it.

Shepard looked over at Mordin who knew the answer, "Vorcha have shut down environmental systems," He replied, "trying to kill everyone, need to get power back on before district suffocates."

After giving her the cure and a heavy powered pistol he had one more thing to add, "One more thing. Daniel, one of my assistants, went into vorcha territory looking for victims," he took a deep breath, "hasn't come back."

"If I find him I'll do what I can," She promised before she turned around, walking towards the door, looking back at Zaeed and Miranda, "let's play doctor."

* * *

"Think I like your way of playin' doctor Shepard," Zaeed commented after she put the cure into the machine, the group turning around to go down the sides to turn on the vents.

"Oh you know what they say in that old vid…", She replied as she put a bullet between a vorchas' eyes, his brains spraying out onto the ground before she finished, "a spoon full of bullets help the medicine go down."

"You watched Mary Poppins?" asked Miranda as she lifted a vorcha into the air with her biotics before Zaeed finished him off.

"That or Rambo…" Shepard said as if she wasn't sure before she started to run down the ramp, guns blazing as she mowed down two vorcha before taking one out with her fist, "I was pretty hammered that night."

"I don' think Poppins carried around a machine gun umbrella," Zaeed chipped in as he blasted a vorchas legs off with a grenade, "Unless I fell asleep before that part."

"I'm surprised you even know what we're talking about Zaeed," Miranda said with a slight perk to her brow before slamming a vorcha into the wall before it crumpled to the ground, head bending unnaturally.

"I was a kid once ya know sweetheart," Zaeed replied gruffly as they entered the first vent room.

"You think the Colonel was alive when that came out?", Shepard suddenly asked as she turned on the vents, humming to life as the screen turned green. She realized she hadn't had the chance to really have a one on one with the Ranger since they first talked.

"I think he's a bit young for that honestly, I think that movie came out in 1964," Miranda pondered that for a moment before she nodded, "He looks like he's in his twenties."

Shepard looked over at Zaeed, who just looked completely confused, "What the bloody hell are you talking about?"

Before she could answer she heard the shouts of angry vorcha coming for them, she turned, rising her rifle as she moved over to the doorway, hiding herself behind the wall as she fired through the doorway, "It's a long story!" she shouted as she dropped one vorcha.

"If we got time to talk about a bloody woman that flies with an umbrella in the middle of a fight I think we go time!" Zaeed shouted back as he tossed a grenade, blasting away a krogans' armor before Miranda and Shepard took him out.

"Fair enough," She said as they started moving forward, and so between shots and dodging rockets she explained going to Earth and an abandoned facility where she found Colonel Daemon in cryo.

She finally finished when they reached the second room, standing in front of the control console as she started to push a few buttons. Zaeed just shook his head as he processed the information, "Just when I thought I had heard it all," he said, "another thing pops up to surprise me."

"Well stick around me Zaeed," Shepard said as the red screen turned green before she looked over her shoulder at him, "and I assure you that you'll see plenty more things…let's get back to Mordin then get back to the ship."

* * *

Meanwhile back on the ship Daemon stood in front of the window of the med bay as he was told. Anyone that tried to pull him away to eat or sit was turned down with a polite 'no thank you' it was getting harder for him to try and not make connections with people since they naturally come up to curious people, "_And when you are older than 170 that just made you a curious person"_ he figured. Even the yeoman Kelly Chambers had come up to talk to him, but he had a feeling that she was doing it for more than just curiosity, as if she was analyzing him, getting to know the workings of his mind. After a while she had left, probably getting all she could of information from him.

He was surprised when Jacob came back a bit later, standing next to him before he explained, "Shepard picked up a new recruit and wanted to put him through his paces while in the quarantine zone."

He raised his head a little as if saying 'ah' before he turned his head back to the window, he wanted to stay silent, but a thought that was bugging him needed to be put out there, "For a group that's labeled as terrorists you don't seem to belong here Jacob."

Daemon heard Jacob laugh slightly before he looked over at him, "Maybe…but that's what I thought when I was with the Alliance," he said before he looked at the window. "Cerberus has been labeled as terrorists for good reasons," He said all of the sudden, as if it was something he wanted to get off his chest, "I admit it bothers me sometimes…but right now only Cerberus is doing anything about the vanishing colonists."

"So doing the right thing with the wrong people," Daemon said, he watched as Jacob just shrugged before looking back at the window. They just stayed silent for the next hour as the medics seemed to be finishing up; Jacob gave him a salute before walking into the med bay to get what he assumed was a sit rep.

"_Colonel,"_ EDI's voice came out from the speakers near him. After he tilted his head up to show he was listening the AI continued, _"Commander Shepard has come back and wants to know Mr. Vakarians status."_

Jacob came back as the AI talked, nodding his own head before he said, "We'll tell the Commander in the comm room." Daemon watched as Jacob beckoned him towards the elevator, giving the window one last glance before he followed right behind him.

He wasn't sure what he expected when he came into the room, finding Shepard standing with a salarian that looked like he'd been through a lot, and an older man that looked like he had seen better days where his face was concerned.

Shepard looked up at him, giving a slight smile as she held her hand out, pointing at Jacob first "This is Jacob, he tends to the armor," she said as Jacob nodded his head. "And this," she pointed over to him next, "Is Colonel Daemon, Colonel, Jacob, meet Zaeed Massani and Mordin Solus," she pointed at one and then the other.

Before he could say anything the salarian was suddenly right in front of him, holding his omni-tool out as if scanning him before looking at the screen, "Interesting, elemental zero in blood stream…different," the professor said as Daemon started to feel like an insect a scientist would look at through a microscope.

Of course he didn't even have a _clue_ what the doctor said, not expecting it to come out so quickly, "I'm sorry but…what?" he asked the salarian.

"Nothing to worry about," the doctor seemed to have misunderstood him since he was waving his hands in a reassuring manner, "would like to examine closer if possible."

"…Okay…", He said uncertainly only catching bits and pieces of it now that he knew what to expect.

That seemed to satisfy the doctor since he nodded his head and walked past saying something along the lines of, "Will be in lab if needed."

He watched as the salarian left, turning to say something he then had Zaeed in front of him staring as if he was sizing him up, "I hear you got some years on ya lad," the man said, Daemon caught the british accent amongst the gravelly tone.

"Most them spent in cryo," He replied, his green eyes looking into the mismatched eyes of the gruff man. Zaeed looked like he had plenty of war stories to tell, Daemon wondered if he was in the military before he turned to what must have been a rougher life style, he did have a mercenary feel to him.

Zaeed must have liked what he saw cause he gave the him a slap on the shoulder before he walked past him and out of the room saying, "Well we will see if ya lost your edge _old man_."

"_Must feel good knowing someone's older then you are,"_ He thought before he turned back seeing Jacob standing across from Shepard giving a review of Vakarians' condition. That look on her face when Jacob talked about the turian brought back the thoughts he had before about red head and the alien. _"Perhaps she cares for him more then she lets on?"_ He thought before he just shook his head internally before he finally tuned into the conversation.

A bit too late it seemed since Jacob was about to say something after, "We did all we could but…" However he heard the door open and looked over his shoulder, the turian he thought wouldn't be up for days was dressed in his slightly charred armor with bandages on his right mandible. "Tough bastard…I didn't think he'd be up yet," Jacob voicing his own thoughts.

"No one would give me a mirror, how bad is it?" Vakarian asked as he walked into the room, looking over at Shepard Daemon guessed.

He didn't need to turn around to see the relief on her face as he heard it in her voice as she teased, "Hell Garrus you were always ugly, just slap some face paint on there and no one would notice."

The turians' laugh turned into a groan as he leaned back, Daemon was worried he was about to fall over before Vakarian said, "Damn it don't make me laugh, my face is hardly holding up as it is." He heard the alien give a sigh of 'oh well' before he said, "Ah well women were always hitting on me and not paying attention to you so I might as well give you a fair shot."

"And just what makes you think a woman would hit on me hm?" She asked, the humor in her voice evident.

"A turian can dream can't he?" Vakarian asked, his mandibles twitching in what might have been suppressed laughter Daemon guessed. After that he suddenly felt the turians eyes on him as if he was searching for something. He met the aliens eyes as the sniper nodded his head as if saying 'thanks' to which Daemon just nodded his head before he turned saluting the Commander before he left. As he walked past Kelly he felt her eyes on him, out of concern or some other reason he wasn't sure, but it made him click the button to the crew deck a bit faster.

* * *

Shepard watched as Jacob left, leaving her alone with her friend. As the door closed she suddenly walked over to the turian and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face against the cool metal of his armor murmuring, "Thank God you're alive…"

She couldn't see the look on surprise on his face before she felt his arms wrap around her. They stood like that for a moment before he pulled back, Shepard looking up at him as he said, "It was a close thing for sure, if the Colonel hadn't warned me…" He looked down, he seemed troubled.

"What is it?" She asked, her grey eyes looking at him searchingly.

"Shepard," He started before he took a deep breath, "he couldn't see it, maybe hear it, but still…"

She looked down as she thought back to the security video back at the facility; she hadn't seen anything change in the Reaper piece. _"Yet the Colonel knew what was going to happen, how?"_ She wondered before she looked back up at her friend saying, "I think it's time I have a one on one with the Colonel, but first how are you?"

She watched his mandibles twitch as he looked to the side, "I can't talk about it Shepard…not yet, later," He promised. She just nodded her head to show she understood before he asked, "Where's the main battery?"

"Crew deck, past the cook," She answered before she added, "I'll come with the Colonel is on that floor anyways."

Garrus nodded his head as he turned towards the door, they both walked out of the room, walking through the armory. Just as they were about to go into the elevator she heard Kelly's voice call out to her, "Commander, can I talk to you for a moment?"

She looked over her shoulder at the yeoman, she would have said later, but the look on her face changed her mind, she looked over at Garrus saying, "I'll talk to you later." She turned back to the woman, crossing her arms lightly, "What's wrong Kelly?" she asked.

The orange haired woman placed her hands behind her back, starting with her usual bit, "You've got unread messages at your terminal Commander also…" she looked down as if she had to put it correctly, "I've taken the liberty to talk to the Colonel, I'm concerned."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked, a bit of concern crawling up her own spine as she thought of what she could have missed when dealing with the Colonel.

"When I talked with him he was distant, only giving quick answers as if he didn't want to make a connection," She explained in a formal manner, "and the few days he's been here I've heard he doesn't eat with the crew, like he's making an effort to stay solitary, and his eyes…I don't think he plans to live long Commander."

"You think he's going to kill himself?" She asked alarmed, she almost put out an alert and have the Colonel subdued before he harmed himself.

"I don't know…" Kelly responded, "But if he wanted to he could have a while ago, perhaps he feels he needs to complete this mission, that is part of the Rangers Creed isn't it?"

Shepard thought back to the words he repeated about the _Ranger objective_, she frowned, "So when this is over…" She said before she shook her head, she wasn't about to lose anyone, before or _after_ the Collector threat was done with, "What do I do?" She asked.

"He needs something more to live for," Kelly answered, "He's been dropped in such an unfamiliar place I think he's barely holding it together…he needs something familiar to hold onto."

"I was about to go talk to him actually, I'll keep your suggestion in mind," Shepard said as she walked into the elevator, clicking the button as she took a deep breath as she thought about what she was going to say.

As the elevator door opened she straightened her shoulders as she walked to where the Colonel rested, moving to the door it opened automatically, as she walked in she could see him staring out at the stars. She cleared her throat to let him know she was there.

His head snapped around at the sound, suddenly turning smoothly and giving a salute saying, "Commander."

"At ease Colonel, there's no need to be formal," She said as she walked over to the window standing next to him. She took a deep breath as she exhaled, "We haven't had time to talk one on one since we first met, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm ready for action whenever you need me Commander," he replied, keeping his eyes to the window.

She turned to face him, her stance relaxing "I didn't ask if you were ready for combat, I asked how you are doing," She said, crossing her arms.

She heard nothing but silence from him for a long moment before he finally looked at her saying, "I wish I could say I'm fine…but it's nothing for you to worry about Commander I'll be ready," he turned, walking away from her before he sat on the edge of his bed, clasping his hands together.

"Now you see that's where you are wrong Colonel," She disagreed as she grasped the chair near his desk, pulling it out she sat on it backwards, sitting across from him. "When someone in my crew is not well that concerns me," She said as she tilted her head to the side, "Tell me what's on your mind."

He sat straight, his fingers twitching against each other, the muscle in his cheek twitching, he must have not wanted to say anything, but he must have not wanted to be rude as he answered, "It's nothing that you need to worry about but…I lost everything that ever mattered to me…I'd at least like to have one thing I am familiar with…my piano for example."

That made her perk up her brow, "You played the piano?" She asked curiously.

"One of the few things I looked forward to after being in the war zone for months at a time," He replied, "it helped when I needed an outlet."

"There are programs you can download on your omni-tool for a piano system," Shepard offered, but she had a feeling he would turn that down.

She was right when he shook his head saying, "That might work for some but…it wouldn't be the same, like I said it's nothing to worry about."

She said nothing else after that, her omni-tool beeping, giving her a reminder of a message. She glanced at it quickly for a moment, a smile crossing her lips before she lowered her arm, "Very well then Colonel," She said as if giving in before adding, "I think there is something you can do to keep your mind busy."

That got his attention; he raised his head to look at her, green eyes curious before asking, "What is your order Commander?"

Shepard stood up, setting her chair back beneath the desk before she said, "How do you feel about picking up a convict?"

* * *

**So ends the fourth chapter to this story! Sorry it took a bit with all the stuff that's been happening with college, almost lost the laptop with this chapter in it! Whew! Please read and review!**


	5. Crime and Prejudice

Chapter Five

Five Seconds: Crime and Prejudice

**Authors Note: I'd like to thank those that have added my story to their favorites and story alerts, also to those that send reviews! As I say before, please forgive grammar flubs I've just updated this after someone pointed out I said pragia not purgatory, I keep getting those mixed up, whoopsie!, they are my fault, and I own nothing in the Mass Effect series, it belongs to Bioware and EA.**

* * *

"You sure he can handle it Commander?" Garrus asked her as they got out of the vehicle that brought them from the Normandy to the security check in area.

She had Joker drop her and Garrus off at the Citadel so that she could visit Anderson and the council, but there was also a few other items on her list. One of the few good things about Cerberus is that they were willing to pay for anything she needed, or wanted, amongst her own credits and she planned on buying upgrades and some real food for the crew, not to mention some brandy for Dr. Chakwas. There was one thing that she could do first before all of that though, looking over at the advertisement pillar that she was told to go to make contact with the master thief Kasumi Goto. "If I didn't think Colonel Daemon wouldn't be able to handle it I wouldn't have put him in charge," She replied as she walked towards the pillar, "Besides," She added, "I want to see if we can surprise him with a piano in his room."

She had kept her promise and had gone to talk to Garrus after she talked with the Colonel. After hearing the story of how Garrus got into that predicament on Omega she told him Kellys' concern and what she heard from the Colonel. Whether it was a sense of brothers in arms or from the Colonel saving his life, the turian agreed that something had to be done to give the Ranger a hand. "Trouble is…" Garrus had to point out, "Where are we going to find one? A _real_ piano I heard is few and far between."

"I will bet you there will be some in an antique store," She challenged as they reached the advertisement pillar.

At first nothing happened until a hooded face appeared on the screen, she couldn't see her eyes well beneath the hood, but her lips were easy to see, marked with a purple color, her Japanese accented voice coming out from the speaker saying cheerfully, _"Commander Shepard, please put in your password and receive a free gift!"_

She'd considered not playing along, but she figured why not? "Silence is golden," She said the code to the screen.

To her relief the thief didn't play it out for long as she said, _"Commander Shepard, Kasumi Goto at your service, I'm a fan."_

She decided to get right down to business instead of making idle chat, "I assume Cerberus filled you in on the mission?" She asked. Glancing over her shoulder she could see Garrus looking around as if he thought that she was hiding somewhere nearby.

"_Honestly I'm shocked they didn't come to see me sooner," _Kasumi replied, _"my fault for being so hard to find I guess."_

"_Well she certainly doesn't lack in confidence," _She thought before she asked, "I take it you like it that way?"

"_Exactly," _She answered, _"I'm the best in the business, not the most famous, for a reason."_

She did the same as she did with Zaeed, asking about her history with Cerberus, and as with Zaeed Kasumi had made a deal with Cerberus if they helped her with a heist to steal a greybox from a man named Donovan Hock. "So what is the time limit on this?" She asked curious.

"_It's due to happen in the upcoming month," _the thief answered, _"I will fill you in on the details as we get closer to the date."_

Shepard looked down in thought for a moment before she nodded her head, "We'll get that for you," She promised with a smile, "If that's all we'll see you on the Normandy."

"_Actually I couldn't help but hear you're looking for a piano for a Colonel?"_ She suddenly asked with a curious gleam in her eyes.

She stared at the screen before she looked around for a moment herself before looking back at the woman and said hesitantly, "…Yes…"

"Is he cute?" Was the sudden yet more human voice coming from above them on a walkway.

Shepard lifted her head up, finally finding her hiding spot amongst the darkness, she shrugged her shoulders answering, "He's attractive yes."

"Don't worry about the piano then," the thief said before she walked off saying, "See you on the ship Shepard!"

"Why do I feel like the Colonel just got an admirer?" Garrus asked as he moved to stand next to her, his eyes stuck between half amusement and half concern.

"Well maybe it would help to have someone help bring him out a bit?" She suggested, "A cute woman has a way of getting people to talk."

"Maybe," Garrus admitted, "that's if he comes back from that pick up alright."

"It's just a simple pick up and go job Garrus," She reassured him before saying something she shouldn't have, "What can go wrong?"

* * *

Meanwhile on the Purgatory…

"_Simple pick up she said," _He thought in his head as he ducked behind a desk as bullets whizzed over his head. Leaning out he fired at an armored Blue Sun merc, sending him onto his knee as a bullet punched through, Zaeed standing up to put a bullet through the kneeling mans' head, sending him to the ground in a spurt of blood. Daemon got up from behind the table, walking over to the door carefully, Miranda following right behind him from the sound of her heels. Just moments before he thought they'd just pick up this apparently psychotic biotic criminal named Jack and take him back to the Normandy. However, the prison owner had other ideas that involved taking them hostage as bait for Shepard.

"It's a good thing ya kept them from taking our weapons," Zaeed spat on the corpse of the alien as he looked down the hall, "Looks clear for now."

"We should forget the convict and get out of here," Miranda suggested, from the beginning of this trip she wasn't too keen on taking a criminal out of jail.

Before he could say 'yay' or 'nay' to that idea EDI piped in, _"The doors you came through originally are locked, and the cryostasis container they are holding Jack in is just in the next room down the tunnel."_

He reached up touching his camouflaged visor as the map appeared on the screen, nodding slightly as he said, "Thanks EDI," looking over at Miranda he shrugged his shoulders as he reasoned "Both of our goals are through that door, let's do what we came to do."

She gave a resigned nod "Very well Colonel," she said with slight hesitation.

He had a feeling she'd rather be leading them then he, he didn't bother saying anything about it only if it became a problem. "Let's go then," he said walking down the tunnel, about to take a left before he stopped, pressing against the metal corner, raising his rifle he poked his head around before pulling back as a rush of bullets whizzed past him. He pointed at Zaeed and then making a tossing motion with his hand.

The bounty hunter under stood, pulling out a grenade he pulled the pin with his teeth, holding it in his hand to let it cook before tossing it around the corner. After a cry and an expected explosion the group came out from the corner opening fire on the remaining men standing, taking them down easily. "These guards kept the galaxies worst in line?" He asked with contempt as he looked down at the bloody corpses.

"It's easy when they don't have weapons," Miranda responded as she stepped over a body before she looked over at Daemon, "I take it you haven't been practicing."

"I've gotten this far without biotics," He shrugged his shoulders, "why use them now?" Though to be honest he had made one or two attempts at it and found he couldn't control it very well. Lifting objects bigger than a ball was beyond him and he wasn't about to ask Miranda or Jacob to help, not wanting to get close to anyone. Before she could say anything he just continued forward, hefting up his Vindicator rifle as he approached the door.

As the door opened he saw a glowing orange control panel in front of a wide window, what looked to be a container down below. Zaeed came up next to him as he looked at the controls saying "Looks like if you open this you open all the cells on this sector."

"…Who the hell came up with that system?" Daemon wondered out loud before he just shook his head. "I'm releasing Jack be ready," He ordered as he held up his omni-tool, having gotten a bit better at it he was able to activate the console. The container on the lower level hissed as steam rushed out of the slowly opening metal hatch. He could see large robot like machines stomping up towards it before they stopped. He wondered how they were going to get past those monsters when the doors finally opened up wide, smoke clearing until he could finally see….Jack?

When he first heard about the convict Jack he had a rather simple image: Male, bald, tattoos, and in the shape of a body builder like he saw on T.V. It turns out he was right in two areas, just not correct in the gender or body shape. Who Jack was turned out to be a woman with a slim build, he guessed he was a bit more sexist then he thought.

Miranda seemed to have expected something else as well too as she asked hesitantly, "That's…Jack?"

As if the convict heard her eyes opened, getting her bearings rather quickly as she tore off the metal bindings that held her down. The robots seemed to have not liked that as their weapons started to activate. He wondered if their freeing of Jack would result in her being killed off so quickly when she suddenly grew a fierce scowl on her face, her body practically bursting with the blue color of biotics before she disappeared beneath the window as she charged the machines.

"We've got to get down there she needs help," he decided quickly, running to the other door as he and the team followed behind him, the sound of explosions rocking them for a moment before he burst out of the bottom door expecting a battle for survival when he got a shock.

The three large mechs were nothing but scrap metal. The large wall in front of them was sporting a gaping hole large enough for the scrapped machines to walk through if they could still. "Bloody hell…" Zaeed murmured, voicing his very thoughts.

"You sure we should still take her with?" Miranda asked with a slight sarcastic tone.

"If she's going our way then yes," He answered before he raised his rifle hoping he hadn't made a mistake as he said, "come on."

As they went through the hole he could see how everything had gone to hell, alarms were blaring, the lights had turned red and flashing and gun fire filled the air. Amongst the confusion of inmates and guards fighting each other it was easy for them to pick their way through without much trouble. Until they ran into a large mech that didn't seem to care who it shot. They were forced to bunker down behind a large barrier of metal as it fired on them.

"Never stays easy does it?" Zaeed grunted as he leaned out, taking a few pot shots at the machine, wearing its shields down a bit before he ducked back behind the barrier.

"Over loading its shields!" Miranda shouted as she suddenly started to lean her head out to take a shot.

It was then that Daemon got that tingle in the back of his head, his hand suddenly lunging out, not having enough seconds to be gentle he grabbed her by the hair, wrenching her face back as a rocket whizzed right where her face would have been. The explosion as it hit the ground pelting them with a small spray of rubble as he exhaled in relief.

"You alright?" he asked as he looked at the Cerberus operative, having let go of her head after he pulled back.

She looked stunned and a bit pained but she just shakily nodded her head at her near death experience.

Zaeed had taken the time to look over at them it seemed as he shouted, "This ain' the time to lose your head sweetheart!"

Daemon would rather let her get back her bearings before pushing her back into action, but she seemed to pull herself together after that. He just nodded his head at her before he took a deep breath, pulling out the grenade launcher he was given from Shepard since she believed, _"Team leaders carry big ass weapons." _Well he certainly wasn't about to argue that now as he jumped out from behind cover, firing a grenade at the machine. Thanks to Zaeed the mechs shields had been taken out and took severe damage from the explosion. Taking the explosion as a cue both Miranda and the bounty hunter popped out of hiding, grenades and biotics flying before the robot exploded into bits and pieces.

"Good work," He complimented the two as he hefted the grenade launcher in his grasp as he walked forward, "Let's keep going, we got an angry woman to find."

* * *

She could only keep running, dodging bullets and blasting the idiot guards with her biotics. Her arms and legs pumped as she ran towards the last two guards in her way, suddenly slipping into a slide as bullets whizzed over her head before she let out a shockwave of biotics, tearing through them before they fell to the ground still. She had to stop, her lungs burning from the exertion, she looked out the window, seeing a ship that she could possibly hijack until she caught the symbol that she _loathed_ from the day she was born.

"_Cerberus_", She hissed,a wave of rage rushing through her veins as she couldn't help but shot and scream at the symbol. So fixated on it she didn't hear the guard coming up with his gun raised until the sound of a gunshot and a groan, her head jerking to the right to see the guard dropping before she looked to the left, seeing a man with black hair in camouflage green armor with a pistol in his hand before he lowered it. Her brown eyes staring at him before she drew her lips back, baring her teeth as she cursed, "What the hell do you want?" Giving him her most fierce glare she had.

He couldn't help but look into her brown eyes when she looked at him. At first glance someone would only see the anger, the hate that she gave out from every pore of her body. However, when he looked deeper he saw a glimpse of what was hiding behind the rage: sadness, pain, _loss_. He knew what he saw, because he looked into the reflection of his face in the window at night and saw the same thing.

"My name is Colonel Daemon Heraldson, and I'm here to get you outta here," He answered, rising his hand up to his visor, pulling it off as it flipped closed.

He watched as she walked back and forth, a soft 'pft' leaving her lips before she said, "Shit you sound like a pussy."

He heard a chuckle come from his left; Zaeed liked this one he imagined.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," She leered as she pointed to the ship at the symbol, "You're with Cerberus."

His eyes looked where she pointed before he looked back to her saying, "I'm here to ask for your help Jack."

"You show up in a Cerberus frigate and expect me to come with you?" She asked as if she was talking to a dumbass. "How stupid do you think I am?" she spat as she started to pace again.

"Which question do we answer first?" Miranda asked as she took a step forward, she was the only one that didn't put away her weapon.

He jerked his head around to look at her, "First, shut up Miss. Lawson, secondly put that away," He ordered. Looking back over to Jack he reasoned with her, "This thing is going down, we can get you to safety and we're asking for your help."

"Or just knock her out," Miranda suggested 'helpfully'.

"I'd like to see you try bitch," She crouched down slightly, a blue shimmer of biotics starting to form.

"No one is attacking her," He said firmly, wondering why in the world Lawson was trying to make this so difficult.

"Smart move," Jack approved before she relaxed, taking a step forward as she leaned in, "You want me to come with? Make it worth my while."

"Join the team and I'll make sure to do what I can to get what you want," He promised as he took a few steps towards her.

She didn't seem very convinced, "Don't make promises you can't keep," she warned. "I bet your ship has lots of Cerberus files," She guessed, "I want to look at those files and see what Cerberus has on me."

Daemon was close enough now to see the tattoos clearer, it was easy when she only wore a piece of string on her chest, but he never looked down there directly, he was more respectful then that. "I'll get you full access," He promised.

"You can't authorize that Colonel," Miranda objected, a sound of anger growing in her voice.

He turned around to look at the raven haired woman, "I can't," he admitted, "but the Commander can, and I think she likes me more than you Lawson."

He could see her practically seething before he turned his back on her, looking over at Jack who seemed to be enjoying the pissed off look on the Operatives face. She seemed to decide it was time to get back to business, "You better be able to do what you say," she threatened. After he nodded his head slowly she looked away saying, "So what the hell are we still standing here for?" leading the way herself to the ship.

* * *

Back on the Citadel…

"That could have gone better," Garrus sighed as they flew back to the Zakera Ward after their meeting with the council.

"Well at least I got my Spectre status back," She said with a shrug of her shoulders. After shopping for upgrades and supplies she finally met with Anderson and the council. It was hard to be nice to them after sweeping everything she had said under the rug as if saving their lives meant nothing. Instead of helping they showed their 'support' by reinstating her Spectre status and the 'helpful' advice to stay in the Terminus System while Cerberus was on her ass. When the council departed to do…whatever they did she was able to have a chat with Anderson about what happened the past two years. One of the first things she asked about was Kaiden, where he was, how he was. She was disappointed that Anderson couldn't tell her anything because of her Cerberus tail. However, she was glad to hear that Anderson never gave up in trying to convince the council about the threat of the Reapers. She departed giving him a hug and a promise that she'd get away from Cerberus as fast as she could.

"It's a small silver line considering what you did for them," Garrus grumbled as they climbed out of the vehicle, standing near the console.

"I'll take what I can get from them," She said as she raised her hand to her ear speaking into her communicator, "Joker, you nearby?"

"_Just about to settle in Commander,"_ Jokers voice came in loud and clear, _"You might want to get on the Normandy before we explode from the inside out."_

"Why what's going on?" She asked, her fingers already slipping into a vehicle to get back to the ship.

"_We got an angry biotic woman on board and she's looking to tear Miranda a new one," _He responded, she could almost picture him looking over his shoulder just waiting for the explosion of biotics to start.

"This should be interesting," Garrus said as they went on their way to the ship.

She came into the comm room just as Miranda was saying, "I'm Shepard's second-in-command, and on this ship we follow orders."

She looked over to where Miranda was looking and finally got to see Jack. The woman was covered in tattoos from the waist up, and the only thing she wore to cover herself was practically leather thongs that wrapped around her neck and chest covering barely anything. The scars that marked her body suggested that she had a rough life, and her eyes said the same thing.

"Daemon, tell the Cheerleader to back off, I'm here because of our deal," The convict said as she looked over at the armored Colonel.

"I don't take orders from him," Miranda said sharply as she leaned forward, eyes narrowing.

"We'll see about that," Shepard finally jumped in, letting her presence be known as she walked over to the table, standing between Miranda and Jack as she looked over at the pale woman, "but for now you do take orders from me, now relax." She looked over at Jack, holding her hand out, "I'm Commander Shepard, it's a pleasure to meet you Jack."

She just watched as Jack crossed her arms, not shaking her hand, "I'm told you can give me access to the Cerberus files they have on me, you want my help? Get me those files, that was our deal," she pointed over to the Colonel and then back at herself.

Miranda shook her head as she looked over at her, "Shepard those files-"

"Are hers," Shepard interrupted, as she looked over at Miranda, "Give her full access."

"You hear that precious?" Jack leered as she leaned forward, "We're going to be the best of friends, you me and every dirty little secret." She walked towards the door saying, "I'll be reading down in the hold or somewhere near the bottom, I don't like a lot of traffic." She looked over at the Colonel for a moment, almost doing a double take before she walked out of the room.

Miranda looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she just left the room, leaving her and the Colonel alone. "I take it the pickup didn't go so well," She guessed.

The Colonel shrugged his shoulders, "They tried to get us to give up our weapons and surrender to be used as bait." A small twitch came to his mouth as he said, "_Surrender isn't a Ranger word_."

"Guess we got something in common then," She said with a smile before she turned to leave, "good work Colonel."

He gave her a salute in response before he asked, "I assume it went well on your end?"

She stopped before the door before she looked at him responding, "Not as well as I'd like, but it could have been worse…plus we got a new recruit while we were there, her name is Kasumi Goto, I'm not sure where she set up, but you should try and introduce yourself when you get the chance." She couldn't help but turn the smile to mischievous as she left.

* * *

He didn't like the look on her face as she left the room, it made him nervous. _"I guess I'll just find out when I find out," _He thought to himself as he left the room. After he dropped off his armor at the armor he took the elevator down to the crew deck. He slipped into showers, pulling off the sweat covered clothing before he washed off, his mind going back to Jack. When they first met he saw the look of loss and pain in her eyes, and that moment in the comm room she had saw it in him, as best as he tried to hide it she caught it at that last moment.

He took a deep breath, trying to dispel her from his head, but without any progress, he finally gave in and dried off with the towels they kept in a dispenser in the bathroom, drying off as he picked up his dirty cloths, placing them in the laundry chute. He looked out of the bathroom for signs of anyone before he slipped into his room where he got the second shock of the day.

What used to be a simple room with a couch, bed, desk, and terminal had been turned into two beds, a painting on the wall, a shelf full of books, a bar fully stocked to his right, a strange white orb in the corner and a…piano in front of the window. He moved into the room stunned as he guessed this was what Shepard was smiling about. His hands reaching out to the piano, his fingertips brushing over the ivory keys, lightly pressing down as a clear note came out, his ear catching it, "Needs to be tuned," He said out loud in thought.

"Good ear," A feminine voice came up behind him, a hint of a Japanese accent, "I take it you are the Colonel."

He turned around; making sure his towel was still on when he saw her right behind him. He could just make out her eyes from behind the hood; her lips were easily seen though, smiling with the purple markings on her bottom lip. "I am…you are…Kasumi Goto?"

"Oh Shepard told you? Keeps things simple then!" The woman said happily as she clapped her hands together. He could almost feel her looking him over.

"I'm sorry but…what are you doing here?" He asked as he carefully stepped around her, almost cautiously as if she would bite him.

"Oh didn't Shepard tell you?" She said a bit curiously as she tilted her head to the side.

"Tell me what?" He asked he was starting to understand why there was a second bed in his room.

"I'm your new roommate!" She said happily.

* * *

**And so ends with the Fifth Chapter of this story, tell me what you think about it, does Kasumi sharing the room with the Colonel seem too much? Please review!**


	6. A Time to Talk

Five Seconds

Chapter 6: A Time to Talk

**Authors Note: Thank you to everyone that have added this story to your favorites and story alerts. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right here! Again I do not own anything in the Mass Effect Series that is under the ownership of Bioware and EA.**

* * *

"_We're getting out of here come on!" He shouted to a group he couldn't see. They were all just blurs of shapes and colors of blues, greens and oranges. He started running down a cavern of stone, yet with steel doors that opened before them. Bullets dancing all around the group, but he could see the Normandy right outside, they were going to make it! That's when he heard a cry, and the sound of someone falling, he stopped, turned and saw a blur on the ground. If they stopped now the group could be over taken, but he couldn't abandon this person, they were too important, to who? The team? To him? That wasn't possible, but he swore to never leave a comrade to the enemy, so he turned back, running, strange blurs of glowing yellow eyes to meet him. He had tried and he had failed, there were too many to shoot, and he couldn't even use biotics properly to save a life, watching as the blur that was important being dragged into the darkness._

His eyes snapped open as he drew in a sharp breath, his hand slowly rising up to the side of his face; he could feel it was slick with sweat. He hoped it wasn't one of _those_ dreams, but it felt so real…

"Bad dream?" a Japanese accented voice came to his ear, he slowly sat up, seeing the thief sitting on the couch, her arms wrapped around her legs, her face hidden beneath the hood.

"You could say that," he picked up a shirt from the ground, slipping it over his chest, wearing just pajama bottoms around the thief didn't sound like a good idea to him. He walked over to the couch, sitting down, hunched over as he clasped his hands together.

"I would be too if I went through what you did," She said. She revealed to him that Shepard explained his situation before they met; he could only assume every new recruit would have to be taken through that tiny spiel.

"Mm…" He hummed in thought as he rubbed his hands together. "How long have I been out?" He asked.

"You must have been tired cause you've been out for a while now," She answered as she tilted her head up so that he could see her face better, "Shepard came to get you to pick up a krogan warlord, but you were so out of it she let you sleep."

"Really?" He asked in surprise, "I'm used to getting up early and shouting at the men to get up." He bowed his head, his mind thinking back to his squad, and the explosion that took all those good men away.

"I think the Commander is a bit different from your average superior," Kasumi's voice interrupting his thoughts.

"Apparently," He said, his feet shifting on the ground before he stood up, "I'm going to walk around." Seeing her just nod at him he turned, leaving the room.

He walked into the elevator, not even looking as he hit one of the buttons, he paced back and forth in the elevator muttering, "Why is this thing so slow?" Apparently in the 170 years that past they figured everyone needed to slow down in the fast pace technology life by making the elevators move at a snail pace.

The doors opened to reveal that he pressed the engineers' deck; he heard that Zaeed was setup down here. He thought of paying him a visit when he heard a female speak.

"Did you hear we got a crazy lady in the hold?"

"What?" A Scottish voice asked sharply, "She touches anything I'll kill her!"

"And that the only thing she wears above her waist is tattoos?" The woman chipped in again.

"Really…" The Scottish voice asked now interested, "perhaps I should go down and say hello…"

He was starting to see where this was going when the woman added, "Oh and she's a murderer with biotics that would tear you in half."

"Dammit girl quit toying with me!" The male whined.

"_So she's down there…" _He thought to himself, the image of her face popping up into his mind unbidden. Before he knew what he was doing he was going down the steps towards the red glow of the light.

He saw her sitting on a simple portable bed, staring down at what he guessed were the files on her. He could see the scars on her arms amongst the tattoos; he couldn't tell if some were self-inflicted or from her years on the run from whatever law there was in this galaxy. He started to wonder if he should go when she finally lowered her arm, brown eyes looking at him saying, "Hey."

He hadn't thought of anything to say, pointing at the files he asked, "Finding what you wanted?"

She looked down at the file before she tossed it onto the file, "Not everything," She answered, "but I found other things that I didn't expect."

"Well at least you found something," He said, leaning back against the wall.

"Thanks for getting Shepard to let me look at these," She said, the 'thanks' sounded odd on her lips, as if she wasn't used to saying it.

"I didn't really _do_ anything," He said, moving a bit closer, he felt nervous for some reason when he got closer, not out of danger, if there was danger he'd know about it. "I didn't even say anything," he pointed out.

"Maybe, but you still made the deal," She started to laugh after she said that, "besides, the look on the Cheerleaders face was priceless."

He couldn't help but feel a smile tug at his lips after that, "It was a bit yeah…" he admitted. "So what are you going to do with what you find?" He asked out of curiosity.

The answer wasn't what he expected, but in hindsight he wasn't too surprised when she said, "I'm looking for names, when I find them I'll go hunting, anyone that screwed with me pays, their associates pay…galaxy is going to be emptier when I'm done."

He could see the fire of anger in her eyes as she talked, the amount of hatred she had for Cerberus was more then he imagined. He couldn't help but ask, "What did they do to you Jack?" His voice softer than he intended it to be.

She stayed silent for so long he wondered if she would ever answer. Finally she stood up, saying in a monotone voice, "They raised me in a research facility, I escaped when I was a kid." She turned her back to him, only the outline of her body could be seen in the glow of the red light, she continued in that emotionless tone, "Been running ever since, and they've been chasing me ever since…but soon, I'm going to be chasing them."

He watched as she pulled out a pistol, looking down at it as if she couldn't wait to use it. He decided it might be better to change the subject, looking around at her living space he said, "You know you don't have to be down here, Shepard could set you up somewhere better."

"I like it down here," She disagreed, "It's dark, quiet, and hard to find, that spells safe for me." He watched as she turned around, walking over to the table, hoisting herself onto it, crouching as she looked at him, "You know…" she said, "This ship is a power house, between you and me? We could take over the ship, go pirate."

"Not sure that'd be the best thing to do during the mission," He said crossing his arms, concern crossing his features that she was actually serious.

"Think about it, lots of creds, cause mayhem and kill anything we'd want for no fucking reason other than to just do it," She persisted, slipping off the table, the glint in her eyes showing the excitement at the thought.

"Why does killing excite you so much?" He asked, changing the subject rather than commenting on what she said.

The excitement faded from her brown eyes as she put her gun away replying, "I figure every time someone dies and it isn't me, my odds of surviving go up. Simple." She sounded so casual about it that he had no doubt that she meant it.

"I guess I should go, my roommate might start stalking me if I stay away for too long," he said already looking over his shoulder as if he expected to see her right behind him.

"Stuck with a roommate huh?" She said with a smirk, "looks like I made good choice staking claim on this spot then."

"It's hard when you're roommate is a Japanese woman who likes taking claims," he said with a shake of his head. "We'll talk later?" he suddenly asked without thinking.

"I'm not here to make friends," She said in a rough tone.

He felt himself flinch slightly why did he flinch? It shouldn't matter to him…Confused he just nodded his head, "I'll give you your space," He said, turning to walk away.

Just as he was about to go up the steps he heard her call out, "We might talk again…maybe not…"

He stopped to show her he heard, nodding his head slightly before he went up the steps, leaving her to herself.

* * *

"_What is his angle…" _She thought as she heard his footsteps fade away, her hands reaching up grasping the sides of her head. _"Better yet why did you say 'maybe' you fucking idiot, he was going to leave you alone," _She cursed at herself as she turned, lying down on her bed, eyes staring up at the ceiling. It was those eyes of his, those damned green eyes, when they first met his eyes were so focused, alive. However when she looked him in the eye in the comm room she saw something completely different that made her do a double take. The eyes that were so bright and lively were dark, full of fresh loss and sadness, something about it made her feel like he understood, _something_, of her pain.

Her mind shot back all those years ago, still so fresh in her mind, curled underneath that desk. Letting herself slip into the delusion that she was safe there, that it was safe to cry, to scream for _someone_ to pull her out of that hell. No one did though, no one cared, not even the kids that played outside her window. How long did she pounded and screamed at that window for someone to help? Long enough that her hands bled and her voice was hoarse, only to crawl beneath her desk to cry once more.

"You're bleeding Jack," A voice snapped her out of her dark thoughts.

She looked at her hands; her nails had dug in so deep that blood seeped through her fingers. A rush of anger went through her as she sat up shouting, "The FUCK do you want?" Only realizing then who she was shouting at, Shepard but her sight was starting to get blurry.

"I just came down here to see how you were doing," The woman raised her hands up in a non-hostile gesture, "I'll leave you be, do you need me-"

"GET THE FUCK OUT!" Jack screamed at her as she got up onto her feet, her biotics flaring up inside her, if this woman didn't get out before she started to cry she would _murder her._

The woman didn't say anything else, instead she just turned, walking away, climbing the steps.

She waited until the steps faded away until her eyes finally over flowed, tears pouring down her face in black drops of makeup, falling back onto her bed, burying her face in her pillow, leaving red streaks from her hands on the soft fabric.

* * *

Shepard turned to her left towards the port cargo hold as she pressed her back against the metal. _"Holy SHIT I thought she was going to try and kill me…" _She thought to herself. Kelly had warned her that Jack was a hair trigger with her anger, but that wasn't anger, that was full blown RAGE. _"What does that make…two crewmates in one day?"_ She wondered to herself. The second crewmate of the day was Grunt, the super soldier krogan that she picked up after the Warlord Okeer gave his life to save him. She didn't waste time opening the container to let him out, but she didn't expect the violent reaction he gave. It was a miracle, but she was able to talk him down to join her 'clan' at first he had no respect because she was a female. However, after he noticed her gun pointed right in his chest she thought that impressed him.

"Looks like you had a scare Commander," A female voice spoke up out of the blue.

She looked around for a moment, not seeing anyone until the shape of Kasumi Goto appeared right next to her, leaning against the wall. "A bit…how's the Colonel?" she asked.

"As fine as anyone can be in his situation, when he came into the room after coming down here he looked like he needed to be alone so I gave him his space," the thief answered a blue visor like holo appearing in front of her eyes as she nodded, "He's sitting at the piano."

"You've got surveillance on him?" She asked with a sense of disturbance rising up in her.

It must have shown since Kasumi shook her head with a laugh, "No, Cerberus does," She replied, "I just took over the live feeds. Wanted to make sure the Colonel doesn't do anything rash yes?"

"Fair enough…" She gave in hesitantly. Her eyes blinking for a moment, "You said he came down here?" She asked.

"To have a talk with Jack," Kasumi explained, "I didn't listen in, but I believe their talk went better than yours."

"No kidding," Shepard sighed.

"By the way," Kasumi added, "I heard what you said to Miranda after Jack came on board, do you really plan on putting the Colonel in second command?"

"Not really," Shepard answered, "I just wanted to remind Miranda that I won't stand for Cerberus bull shit and who's in charge, while she's cold she knows what she is doing." She wasn't really surprised that Kasumi was listening in; if she had a cloaking system she'd probably be hard to resist the temptation to listen in either.

"I doubt the Colonel would be able to handle it in his state, though he wouldn't say no if you promoted him," Kasumi said, "He's so focused on being the perfect soldier that he doesn't take time to be a human being."

"To be honest I think Jack is the first person he's gone to talk to on his own," Shepard said looking over at the door thoughtfully.

"Anyways, I think I'm going to go slink off somewhere," Kasumi said as she pushed off the wall, arms swinging before she vanished from Shepard's view.

She shook her head as she walked back to the elevator, pressing the third floor button, leaning back against the wall of the metal container. After spending time with two hostile people and a sneaky thief she needed a face she knew well. As soon as the doors opened she made a beeline for the battery, as the door opened she saw the blue armor of the turian working at the console.

He turned around to look at her, the bandages on the side of his face still there, the damage seemed to be healing well enough, but it still made her wince inside as the image of him bleeding on the ground popped into her head. "Shepard," Garrus started the conversation, "Glad you're here I think I've got something to upgrade the Normandy."

"Upgrades are music to my ears Garrus," She said, moving to stand next to him near the console, having to tilt her head up to keep eye contact, "lay it on me."

"Well if I laid the upgrades on you it migh-" He stopped and blinked, raising an armored finger, "Human expression, right." He cleared his throat continuing, "Anyways I think if I pull some strings I can get some new guns that might give us an edge on the Collectors, what do you think?"

She perked her brow up some as a wicked smile crossed her lips as she said, "You know I can't say no to a big gun Garrus," her grey eyes twinkling with amuesment.

"Really?" The turain asked in a playful tone, "That explains a lot then."

Her jaw dropped a little as she gave him a little teasing shove, "I can't believe you just said that, wait scratch that," She said with a shake of her head, "I _can_ believe that."

She heard him chuckle before he turned back to the console, tapping at the screen for a moment before looking back at her, the look on his face getting more serious as he said, "It's good to be back Shepard, being here with old friends."

"Yeah…" She sighed, looking down at the ground as she crossed her arms beneath her breasts, "I just wish all of them were here." Her mind going back to the old Normandy crew, Tali, Wrex, Liara, Pressley, and most of all Kaiden.

Garrus seemed to know what she was thinking because he reached a claw down, gently tapping her on the bottom of the chin to get her to look up at him, "You'll find him, I know it," he reassured her.

"Thanks Garrus," She said with gratitude, bringing a small smile back to her lips as she reached out, patting his arm.

"Anytime," He waved his hand dismissively, looking back at the console, "I should get back to this, I'll make the order for the new guns, and we should be able to pick them up by the time we go back to the Citadel."

"Alright, I think I'm going to get some shut eye, I'll talk to you later," She turned walking through the door.

* * *

He turned back to the console his eyes staring at it for a long moment. She might have left the room, but her scent stuck around and it taunted him. Why couldn't he have forgotten those feelings that grew in silence? Shepard had made her choice, not that he ever showed his interest since she never showed interest in him. Or maybe she had? And he just couldn't tell as inexperienced as he was back then in understanding human body language and tones. He kept thinking back to those times they talked together, did she ever show signs of interest? He didn't know. He shook his head to dispel the thoughts; he had to focus because he had a big order to make to get the Thanix Cannons he promised to get Shepard. If only the scent didn't linger.

* * *

"_Commander Shepard,"_ The synthetic voice of EDI burst into Shepard's dreams.

Her eyes snapped open as she groaned. She had slept in boxers and a tank top; her body throbbed dully with the exertions from yesterday. Turning she placed her bare feet on the cool floor as she grumbled, "Yes EDI?"

"_The Illusive Man needs to speak with you, he says it is 'Urgent'" _EDI answered in her normal tone.

That elicited another groan from her, falling onto her back as she pressed her pillow against her face as if hoping to suffocate herself before she had to talk to him. But alas, she wasn't able to go through with that so she finally got up, getting dressed as she made her way down to the comm room.

As soon as she stepped into the hologram she was greeted by a rather excited Illusive Man, "Shepard I think we have them!" he started, "Horizon, one of our colonies in the Terminus Systems has gone silent." He took a drag from his cigarette as an image of the planet popped up beside his chair. "If they haven't been attacked yet they soon will be," He continued, "Has Mordin produced a counter-measure for the Collectors seeker swarms?"

She shook her head, "Not yet," she answered.

He didn't seem satisfied with that answer, "Let's hope he works well under pressure then," he said.

"I have no doubt he'll get it done, we'll take care of this," She said as she turned to leave.

"There's something else you should know," he added before she could leave the circle.

The tone in his voice made her stop, turning around she asked "What is it?" The look she saw on his face building up anxiety in her chest.

The next words he said made her turn pale, "One of your former crew, Kaiden Alenko, is stationed on Horizon."

* * *

**So ends the sixth chapter of this story! I'm sorry if you all are disappointed in not seeing them pick up Grunt, but I wanted this chapter to be more relaxed and mainly conversation. I promise the next chapter will be longer and have more action! Also tell me how I did writing from Jacks point of view along with any of the other characters; I appreciate the insight from readers that love the series like I do. Please review!**


	7. Trust

Five Seconds

Chapter 7: Trust

**Authors Note: Thank you for the reviews I appreciate it very much. I stayed up late to finish this (2:55 in the morning have to work at 9 *cough*) but I consider it punishment to myself for not getting this out sooner please forgive any grammar flubs. Back to the action! I don't own anything in the Mass Effect series.**

* * *

"_It can't be a coincidence,"_ She thought to herself in the shuttle that took her, Garrus, Daemon, and Jack down to the surface. Usually she wouldn't take more than two others. However, she wasn't going to leave things to chance when dealing with saving a colony and one of her crewmates. Especially one that was as close to her as Kaiden Alenko.

"The Collectors dropping onto a colony with one of our own it can't be random," Garrus said, his words echoing her thoughts.

She could only nod her head in agreement before she said, "Let's just hope Mordins' counter-measure works." It was just a few hours ago that she went into the lab, hoping, _praying_, that he was as good as she thought he was.

"Is it ready?" She asked, standing in front of a container of a seeker swarm, buzzing and bashing against the glass as if trying to sting them.

She watched as Mordin looked at her, his face not changing, she started to feel a rush of panic rise in her chest before he smiled saying, "Yes!" Walking over to a console, an orange holo of their armor showing the counter-measure placed in beneath.

"So what is this counter-measure supposed to be a…repellant?" the Colonel asked, after he saw the seeker swarm to know what to expect she thought he seemed a bit…on edge.

"Apparently it's supposed to block our life signatures from their sensors so that they just pass us by," She answered.

"Supposedly?" Garrus asked with a perked brow, "that isn't comforting."

The shuttle rocked gently as they landed the hatch opening wide. Shepard slipped out first followed by Garrus and then Daemon and Jack. The area was dead quiet, only the faint sound of buzzing in the air. What caught her attention the most however, was the large Collector ship that loomed on the other side of the colony.

"We might have a chance to save the colonists if we hurry," Shepard said as she started to move forward, pulling out her rifle as she moved around the wall. A silent prayer leaving her lips that they reached Kaiden before he was taken.

* * *

The Colonel was uneasy it was true. For one reason was because of the swarms. He hated bees, wasps more specifically. In his eyes the swarms were just wasps that were a bit mutated. Like some strange creature from the _Fallout_ games he played.

However that wasn't the only thing that put him at unease. He didn't feel it until they left the shuttle, but it was then he felt the hair rise slightly on the back of his neck as if someone was watching them. He didn't feel any hostility coming from it, but it felt cold, calculating.

As they moved around the wall he couldn't help but give a quick glance over his shoulder and up at the sky to look for _anything_ that explained the second feeling. Jack must have caught the look because he heard her voice a moment later taunting, "What's wrong Daemon?" she asked, "afraid of a little bug?"

He would have just said no if anyone else had asked that. However, when she teased him it sounded more… _curious_ then mean so he couldn't help but say more. "When I was a kid," he started "I was walking up the steps of our house, a random bee stung me in the leg for no reason at all, there wasn't a hive nearby for me to threaten and I never got stung by there ever again." He took a look up at the sky seeing a swarm flying over their heads. He had to refrain from shivering slightly at the tingle down his spine. "After that I always went the other way when it came to bees" he took a slight breath before he finished, "So yes the seeker swarms bother me a bit."

He felt her brown eyes look at him as if she didn't expect some bit of personal history from him. She looked down at the ground before she said, "Well…just swat them you pussy."

He couldn't help but smile just a little at that his head turning to look forward, seeing Shepard looking at them with a perked brow before she said, "Or blast them with your biotics Colonel."

He caught the look of Jack perking her own brow at him, he avoided everyone's glance before he cleared his throat saying, "We'll worry about that if it comes to it."

They reached the end of the hill seeing a pit of containers, everything seemed to get…quiet. That's when the sound of wings came out of nowhere, large insects coming down onto the ground, strange weapons in hand.

"Get to cover!" Shepard shouted, diving behind a container as yellow lasers blasted past her.

Daemon ducked down behind another container, Jack right next to him. _"So these are Collectors," _He thought as he leaned around the corner, firing at one, a strange color of guts spewing from its chest. What caught his eye were the four glowing orbs that must have made their eyes. His mind shot back to that dream…the glowing yellow eyes that dragged the blur away.

"This isn't the time for dreaming dumbass!" Jacks shouting suddenly breaking through his thoughts as she leaned around the other side, shooting her shot gun. Seeming unsatisfied she stepped out from hiding, her body glowing blue before she screamed out, a sudden blue shock wave burst from her body. Like a row of explosions it moved down the row taking out three Collectors after it reached its end.

Watching the shockwave do its damage amazed him. So far he had been trying to life a _ball_ she could probably lift things beyond what he could lift with pure muscle. He had seen the destruction she had caused in the Purgatory, but this was the first time he got to see her in real action.

After the shockwave it was easy to cut through the remaining two Collectors. He walked past the containers, his visor showing no life signs from the fallen bodies. Moving up the steps with the rest of the group he looked up at the Collector ship a smirk twitching at his lips.

"Something funny Colonel?" Shepard asked, she had stopped to look back at him.

"In my time we were all so freaked out about Mayan calendars, global warming, terrorists, and failing economy, seems all rather insignificant now," He answered. He looked back down at the group; Jack out of all of them was confused at what he said.

"The fuck you talking about?" She asked, looking around at everyone, seeing she was the only one confused seemed to only piss her off more.

Before she could say anything else a sudden inhuman sound came out from around the corner, it caused the hair to rise on the back of his neck. A silver and blue shape burst from around the corner, lunging.

Shepard blasted the shape with her shot gun, the hideous shape hitting the ground before an entire group came right behind it. "Husks!" She shouted, the group opening fire, dropping the monsters before they reached them.

He couldn't help but stare at the LED like glowing bodies on the ground, his foot kicking one over to look at it closer. It took everything he had to keep from flinching back at the sight. The thing that was called a Husk looked almost…human, but stripped of skin leaving discolored muscle and bones, eyes and mouth replaced with eerie looking lights. "Please tell me that's not human," He said, looking up at the disgusted face of Shepard.

"Not anymore…" She answered, looking up at him, "They're called Husks, we ran into them multiple times, the first on Eden Prime." She looked down at the body, "These ones look different."

"Doesn't matter what they look like," Garrus joined in on the discussion, "what matters is that we know now that they're not from the Geth, more like the Collectors or Reapers."

"All that matters to me is that you can kill the fuckers," Jack spat on the bodies, she didn't show it, but he had a feeling that she was more disturbed then she let on.

"Let's keep going, there might be some colonists left," Shepard said before raising her rifle and moving on.

Daemon started to wonder if he was in a coma and that this was just a terrible dream filled with aliens and space ships. Perhaps he _was_ in a terrible dream, which he was still in the cryo; he wasn't sure which would be worse, reality or unreality. He shook his head hard; he had to focus on what was going on now. They made good progress despite the mass of Collectors and these monsters called Husks. He had no doubt that he'd have nightmares from those ungodly sounds they made, not like he already had nightmares every night.

Everything was going well until Shepard picked up a strange weapon from a dead Collector. Another wave of Collectors came down from the sky, as they landed one of them suddenly lifted into the air, cracks of fire yellow bursting from it as if it was going to explode before it landed on its feet. The voice that came from it sounded deep, old, and pure evil, proclaiming, _"I am the Harbinger of your destruction."_

"_Well that's fantastic," _He thought to himself as the group hid behind cover, popping over the container he fired at one of the non-glowing Collectors, his visor telling him this 'Harbinger' was covered in a barrier. He watched as the glowing Collector shot a strange missile in the shape of a blob outlined with a golden aura, it didn't look good "Incoming!" He shouted out in warning as he ducked back behind cover.

Shepard peaked over her cover, seeing the missile before it struck her container, suddenly pushing her backwards away from cover, the Collectors would have opened fired on her if he and Garrus popped back up and fired, keeping them from harming her as she got back under cover.

Finally it was just 'Harbinger' standing, Jack struck it with a shock wave of biotics, Garrus shot it with his sniper rifle and Daemon and Shepard rained bullets down on the monster.

Just when he thought they had the thing it suddenly started to dissolve saying, _"Releasing control of this form."_

He slowly got up, walking around the container looking over at Shepard asking, "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know…" She responded, she looked deep in thought "Sounded almost like Sovereign didn't it?" He watched as she looked over at Garrus.

"Almost, but who can tell?" Garrus shrugged his shoulders; he had the same look of thought on his own face, perhaps. Maybe Daemon was getting better at reading turian faces after all.

"Let's keep going, we'll figure all this out sooner or later," Shepard decided, walking over to a door, it must have been locked since she raised her omni-tool, tapping at the console before it finally opened wide.

It was a storage area from the looks of things, only lightened up by the glow of the containers, the blue glow bothered him. Images of the cryo room from Area 53 flashing back into his mind.

"_Why?" He asked, staring at the blue container, looking over at the scientist that stood at the console._

"_Cause if there are more of those things out there…they'll need a leader, not a scientist," The man said as he tapped at the console, the container opening wide, waiting for him to step in._

He had been so out of it he didn't realize that there was a conversation going on, Jack seemed to be the only one not participating, instead staring at him before her head jerked away once she saw him looking.

"The Alliance gave us defense towers that don't work, stupid sons of bitches," cursed the apparent mechanic.

Shepard glanced over her back at him, pretending that he had been listening the entire time he just nodded his head. She looked back at the mechanic saying, "If you have defense towers we can use them against the Collector ship."

The mechanic must not have been an optimist cause he said "You'd need to calibrate the targeting systems it's never worked right."

"Just give us the location ya pussy," Jack chipped in, staring at the mechanic as if she was wondering how to cut his balls off.

He flinched at her look, pointing at the door saying quickly "Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony, hard to miss. The targeting controls are at the base."

"We'll head there then, stay here, you'd just get in the way," Shepard said as she walked towards the door.

The mechanic agreed, "Yeah, that's what I was thinking too."

They left the mechanic behind, moving on ahead. From then on it was business as usual kill as many of the Collectors as possible before the now proclaimed 'Harbinger' 'Assumed control' of a body, even then kill the rest before taking him down. He tried to keep focused, but it started to get harder, images of the cryo room popping back into his head.

He almost even missed the tingle in the back of his head at one moment, Jack was moving ahead of the rest of the group, about to step out from behind a wall. He suddenly ran forward, just as she was about to step out he grabbed her shoulder, jerking her back.

"What the f-" She was about to curse when a sudden blast of dirt and grass sprayed at them, a deep hole remaining where she would have been standing if he hadn't stopped her.

He just said nothing, though he could feel Shepard's eyes burrowing into the back of his skull, he knew that he just made her more curious about him. It didn't help that Jack was staring at him in shock as well. "Let's just be more careful yeah?" He said trying to bring them back to what was going on.

Shepard just nodded her head, though her eyes followed him for a moment before she took the lead. It turned out what caused the explosion was a husk that looked more like the Hunchback of Notre Dom, with a tank barrel sticking out of its back. It took multiple shots of bullets and biotics to take it down, between dodging shockwaves, leaving large holes in their wake. It didn't take long to punch through the rest of the Collectors, despite Harbinger making an appearance during the fight. Finally they reached an opening area with a tower sticking up in the middle, containers spread out around the tower. The group reached the tower, walking around it to find the console.

Shepard raised her hand up to her console asking, "Normandy, do you copy?"

Jokers' voice came up in all of their comms, _"Joker here, signal's weak, but we got you Commander."_

"Great," She said, "EDI, can you get the defense towers online?"

EDIs' voice came in this time, _"Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified, but it will take time to bring the towers to full power."_

"Get into defensive positions, Garrus you cover this side with me, Jack, Colonel you cover the other side, enemies between us is free dibs for anyone," She ordered, getting into position.

Shepard's orders were followed quickly, and not a moment too soon, that's when the husks and Collectors started coming down on them in waves. No words were exchanged between the group, other than the occasional "Fuck you!" Or "I'll toss you around like a toy!" coming from Jack.

Just when he thought that they would make it after the final wave came through, a sound came from behind, he and Jack both turned around to see a large armored shape with two glowing eyes floating straight for them. He didn't even need his visor to tell him it was protected by a barrier, glowing with a purple sheen.

"Take it out!" Shepard shouted as she moved backwards, shooting at the monster as the group ran back.

It felt like forever taking out its barriers at first, and Shepard only got one shot off of hitting it with her grenade launcher before it hit the ground, sending a shockwave that knocked him back. The creature glowing almost with biotic like powers before its barriers burst back up to full.

"For fucks sake!" Jack cursed as she shot her shotgun at the creature, her body glowing blue with biotics as she sent a shock wave at it.

"Agreed!" He shouted back at her as they moved together, it wasn't planned, wherever he went she seemed to just be there, and he wondered if she did it on purpose or not.

Finally they dropped the floating Husks' barriers once more, Shepard getting another strike of her grenade launcher, sparks flying and metal shredding this time around. However, it wouldn't be that easy, it slammed itself against the ground once again, spraying dust and grass everywhere as its barriers restored themselves.

"One more time!" Garrus shouted to them, ducking back beneath a container as a shockwave almost struck him.

One more time was all was needed; the thought of finally killing the hellish thing must have energized everyone as everyone took more risks, popping out of cover to get a spare shot off before ducking behind cover just in time. Just as they dropped the creatures' barriers down for the last time the defense towers came to life, showering the Collectors ship with explosive rounds. Shepards' grenade launcher adding to the explosions as she struck the floating Husk, the thing glowing brightly as if it was about to burst, until it just dissolved.

He couldn't help but shout in victory as it faded away, Jack having a cocky grin on her face. Garrus looked satisfied, and Shepard just patted him on the back.

That's when the sound of rockets being started brought them back to reality. The Collector ship started to take off, still being pummeled with fire from the defense towers, but it was too little too late, taking off and quickly fading into the distance.

"They have most of the humans on board, they got what they came for," He said softly. They had found frozen colonists on the way there, but too few.

The mechanic must have found his courage cause he came running up a moment later shouting, "No! Don't let them get away!"

"I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do," Shepard said apologetically looking down at the ground, and she sounded like she meant it, she must have assumed that her friend was taken along with the rest.

"I'm sorry Shepard," Garrus said, looking sad himself as he reached out, touching her shoulder.

"Shepard?" The mechanic said thoughtfully, turning around to look at them, "Wait…I know that name." He nodded his head as if he confirmed it saying, "Yeah I remember you, some type of big Alliance hero."

A new voice came in right behind the man, a shadow from behind a container saying, "Commander Shepard, Captain of the Normandy, the first human Spectre, Savior of the Citadel." And while he didn't know who it was, Shepard did, Kaiden Alenko stepped out into view.

* * *

"_My God he's okay…" _She thought to herself stunned, her heart had sunk so low when she didn't see him amongst the remaining colonists, and further still as the Collector Ship flew away. Now her heart was stuck in her throat, she wasn't sure if she could breath.

He continued on, looking over at the mechanic saying, "You're in the presence of a god, Delan." He looked over at her, and she felt her heart jump, "Back from the dead," he added.

Delan didn't seem to care since he crossed his arms, leaning back on one foot sighing, "All the good people we lost, and you get left behind…figures." He just shook his head, walking way saying, "Screw this."

She didn't care what he thought; all she could see at the moment was Kaiden, walking towards her. She took a step towards him, wanting to feel his arms around her, wanting to feel his breath on her ear. But he stopped when she approached, saying, "I thought you were dead Commander," his tone flat, unemotional, "We all did."

She felt a pang in her chest her grey eyes looking into his searchingly asking "Is something wrong Kaiden?"

"Yeah," He said, an edge of anger starting to show in his voice, "I spent these last two years believing you were _dead_." He took a step towards her, leaning forward, the anger showing in his voice "I thought we had something Shepard, I thought you cared, and why didn't you contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?" He was getting close to shouting now.

"I was dead Kaiden!" She said in a soft voice, the anger and resentment in his face and tone caused a knife to dig deeper into her heart with each word. "I spent the last two years in a Cerberus lab, being rebuilt, Kaiden please," She pleaded with him to drop his tone.

He took a step back from her as if she had a plague saying, "You're with Cerberus now?" the sound of disgust evident in his voice, "I can't believe the reports were right."

"Reports? Wow you guys are slipping," Jack quipped, crossing her arms.

"Alliance intel said Cerberus could be behind our missing colonies," Kaiden went on, "We got a tip this could be the next to get hit." He just shook his head "I went to Anderson, but he wouldn't talk, but there were rumors that you weren't dead…worse," he said, his teeth gritting together as he almost hissed out the last part "That you were working for the enemy."

"Kaiden I don't work for Cerberus!" She denied shaking her head, "We both want the same thing to help the colonists, but I don't answer to them."

"Don't you?" He shot back at her leaning forward, the look in his eyes causing a pain in her chest, "Or maybe that's just what Cerberus wants you to think?" What hurt most was what he said next, "You've turned your back on everything we stood for!"

"You know me Kaiden!" She felt like she was about to cry, the look on Kaidens face starting to become blurry, "You know I'd only do this for the right reason!" She took a step towards him, almost pleadingly "You saw it too, the Collectors are harvesting human colonies, and they're working for the Reapers!"

He was unmoved by it crossing his arms as he said harshly, "I don't know you anymore Shepard, I'd like to believe you, but that was until you started working with Cerberus."

Garrus suddenly came up right next to Shepard, mandibles twitching in anger saying, "Dammit Kaiden you're letting your feelings look over the facts, the question is what happened to you?"

"Nothing's happened to me!" He suddenly shouted at the turian, "Maybe _your _feelings are clouding your judgment Garrus."

"Enough!" Shepard shouted it tore her apart to see two men that fought alongside each other starting to fight. "Just come with us Kaiden, you'll see, it'll be just like old times," she pleaded one more time; she could feel her heart tearing apart with each second.

"No, it won't," He disagreed, turning he walked away saying, "I'm heading back to the Citadel, I'll let them decide if they believe your story."

She just watched as he walked away without looking back for a moment, or maybe he did, and she couldn't see since her eyes were so blurred with unshed tears. She just talked into her comm, just barely talking in a normal tone, "Joker, send the shuttle to pick us up. I've had enough of this colony."

* * *

**Authors Note: I know I said I'd have a longer chapter, but having to choose between getting this out sooner for you to read or wait longer I decided to please you all with a chapter to read sooner rather than later, please tell me how you liked it!**


	8. Hallelujah

Five Seconds

Chapter 8: Hallelujah

**Authors Note: I do not own anything in the Mass Effect series, it is owned by Bioware and EA (Still waiting on that patch to fix up the ending though *Cough*)**

The shuttle ride back to the Normandy was an uncomfortable ordeal. Shepard kept her eyes glued to the ground; Garrus was doing the same while inadvertently looking at her. Jack just stared at the shuttle hatch, and Daemon just stared up at the ceiling. It didn't take a genius to figure out how close she had been to that man named Kaiden, but from the looks of things none of that mattered to Kaiden. While that was no doubt a major part of her pain there was also the feeling of betrayal. When in a battle the people you're fighting with their lives are in your hands, and vice versa, you rely on the man next to you to get through to the next day that in itself makes an unbreakable bond with them, even if they are someone you hate you love them anyways because of that bond. Kaiden had done more than broke that bond; he had torn it and blasted it away without another thought of her feelings.

While it was terrible it had one side effect that went towards his benefit. It kept her from thinking about what happened with Jack and the explosion. There had been no sound, no warning, he had just inadvertently pulled her away from a danger not even Shepard was aware of. He had to be careful around Cerberus, while he had no doubt in his mind that Shepard hated them, Kasumi had shown that no place was private after pulling out more bugs then he thought was possible, one even in the piano which he found after tuning it. It was obvious they were interested in him, who wouldn't be? But if it got out that he had precognitions he had no doubt that he'd end up like Jack in some lab. That being said he wished she would have been distracted in other ways, no one deserved to be put through that.

After what seemed like forever the shuttle hatch finally opened revealing the inside of the Normandy. Without another word Shepard was out of the shuttle and into the elevator before the rest of them could even get up from their seats.

He looked over at Garrus who just sighed, mandibles flaring out as he looked at the elevator murmuring, "She didn't deserve that."

"No one does," He said, he wasn't sure what else to say; looking down at the ground he just shook his head, walking to the elevator. When he walked in he turned around to push a button, seeing Garrus and Jack join him in the elevator.

He watched as Jack pressed the button for the engineer deck, turning her head side to side, practically hearing the cracking of her bones. "I need a drink," She sighed as the door closed.

Garrus did the honors of pressing the button for the crew deck, "I think we all could do with one," He agreed.

He had to agree as well, looking at the two for a moment before he said, "There's a bar on the crew deck."

Jack looked over with a perked brow saying, "No shit really?"

Garrus was surprised as well and said so, "When was that put in and where?"

"In my room, apparently its half-lounge half-bedroom," he answered, shrugging his shoulders. The elevator doors opened wide to the engineer deck, he expected Jack to up and leave.

Instead she just pressed the crew deck button to get the elevator moving again. She must have caught the slight twitch of his brow cause she just shrugged saying, "I'm stealing shit from your room."

He couldn't help but smile a little at that, shaking his head just slightly before the door finally opened to the crew deck. He decided to take the lead, turning left, walking into his room.

Like always Kasumi was nowhere to be seen, not like that meant anything. On one or two cases he thought he was getting dressed alone when an unseen voice would ask, "Anyone tell you you've got a nice ass?" He would then wrap himself around the waist and either wait for her to leave, or just get dressed beneath the blanket. It was silly he knew, having dressed and undressed in front of women before in the military, but back then they didn't look him up and down like he was a steak…at least he didn't think so.

"Shit you're loaded!" Jack said in what might have been the happiest tone she ever gave, moving behind the bar as she looked through the selection.

"Thank Kasumi for it, all of these things are hers," He said as he just stood there, watching the convict as she grabbed one or two bottles.

"She plays the piano?" Garrus asked as he looked around the room before looking over at Jack, "If there's turian brandy I'll take that."

Jack looked around before she grasped another bottle, tossing it over to Garrus before she sat down on the bar table saying, "Only pussies would play a piano."

He looked at her for a long moment, before his eyes looked back to the piano. He wasn't sure what came over him, but the next thing he knew he was sitting on the piano bench, looking down at the keys. A song came to his head, it was sad, soft, fitting he felt for the situation. His fingers sliding over the keys before he started to play, the tone of the piano pure as he started to sing softly:

_I've heard there was a secret chord_

_That David played and it pleased the Lord_

_But you don't really care for music, do you?_

_It goes like this the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift_

_The baffled king composing Hallelujah…_

_Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah_

His mind went back to when he used to play the piano back home, his family sitting near the fire place in silence, and the warm arms that wrapped around his neck as he played, the feel of her hair against his face. He felt something wet and warm slide down the side of his cheek.

_Your faith was strong but you needed proof_

_You saw her bathing on the roof_

_Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew ya_

_She tied you to her kitchen chair_

_She broke your throne, she cut your hair_

_And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah…_

His eyes were so focused on the keys he felt like he was back at home, those warm arms around his neck. The warmth of the fire warming his bones.

_Baby I've been here before_

_I've seen this room I've walked this floor_

_I used to live alone before I knew ya_

_I've seen your flag on the marble arch_

_Love is not a victory march_

_It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah…_

His fingers moved without a thought from his mind, pouring his pain and sadness into the keys.

_There was a time when you let me know_

_What's real and going on below_

_But now you never show that to me do ya?_

_But remember when I moved in you_

_The holy dark was moving too_

_And every breath we drew was Hallelujah…_

He had to take a slow deep breath to keep himself from falling apart, the ivory keys felt wet beneath his finger tips from the tears sliding down his face.

_Maybe there's a God above_

_But all I've ever learned from love_

_Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew ya_

_It's not a cry you hear at night_

_It's not somebody who's seen the light_

_It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah…_

_Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah…_

His fingers carried on the rest of the tune before they finally stopped, his hands resting on the keys. His arm rised up, wiping his face, feeling the dampness on his arm before he finally looked over his shoulder, eyes widening.

It wasn't just Him, Jack, and Garrus in the room anymore. Gardener, Chakwas, Kasumi, Miranda, some of the other crew, and right behind them all he caught the sight of Shepard, who had her hand over her eyes.

The silence in the room was heavy and he wasn't sure if there were any of them that had a dry eye. He couldn't see Jacks face, her back was to him. Soon the silence got so awkward that Miranda of all of them had to wipe her face and say, "Back to your posts." Before she turned, leaving the room rather rushed.

Soon everyone started to leave until Shepard, Garrus, and Jack remained. Shepard just looked him in the eyes, mouthing the words 'Thank you' before she started to walk away, Garrus quickly getting up and following right after her.

Soon after it was just him and Jack, he could see her fingers playing with the edge of a bottle, her face still hidden from him.

He couldn't stand it anymore and just out and said, "I guess I'm the kind of pussy that plays the piano," joking before he coughed.

She seemed to flinch slightly at that, her head turning further away from him before she suddenly got up, "Thanks for the booze," she said in a harsh tone, suddenly walking towards the door.

"Jack wait," He said, getting up he almost expected her to just keep going, but she stopped, waiting. An idea had been playing about in his head, he didn't trust Cerberus, and he couldn't keep denying it, he needed help, "Will you teach me how to use biotics…please," he asked, eyes staring at the back of her head.

She said nothing for a long time before she just walked out of the door, leaving his question unanswered.

The bottle was slick in her hands, or was that the sweat from her palms? Shit she had no idea. She couldn't pull her eyes away from him when he first started to play. She thought he was just going to be a smart ass and try to play, and then…_that_ came out and she had to eat her own words. He was doing more than just playing, it was as if he was bearing a bit of his soul and tearing her own out for everyone to see. He wasn't being a pussy…he was brave enough to show something so vulnerable, something she was too much of a chicken shit to do.

"_I love you Jack…I'm sorry…We were going to have a house…I'm sorry that isn't going to happen…"_ His voice invading her skull, images of his face, why did he have to come back for her? If he had just left her to fucking die she would have been fine with that, but he risked his life to save her, why did it have to be him?

She shook her head fiercely, hearing the _ding_ of the elevator; she blinked her eyes rapidly, staring out at the engineer deck. She must have done it unconsciously, she needed to get her mind off of them, the man of the past and the man with green eyes and a voice that stuck in her head longer then she was comfortable with. She looked down at the remedy for her thoughts, the bottle of alcohol swishing in the glass as she walked down into her hiding place. The bottle half empty by the time she was sitting on her bed, letting the alcohol and red light fill her brain. The last thing she thought before she fell into a drunken stupor was, _"'Teach me how to use biotics…'" _She scoffed, _"Imagine me as a teacher…"_ She laughed herself to sleep.

Shepard walked into her room, "Garrus I'm fine," She said as she kept her face hidden from him. Walking down the steps she threw herself onto her bed, burying her face in her pillow.

"I might not know human behavior as well as the next guy, but burying your face in a pillow is a vid cliché that means 'I'm not fine'", he protested. She couldn't see where he was, but from the sound of his voice he sounded like he was near the edge of the bed.

She raised her head up just slightly, resting her chin on the pillow as she stared at the wall, "I can't believe my own friend…my own _boyfriend_ didn't trust me…practically _hated_ me," she murmured.

"Some people change as time goes on…I guess he just changed the most," Garrus said, she felt his weight sink a part of her mattress as he sat down.

"You didn't, did you?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at him, her storm grey eyes blinked at him.

He didn't answer for a moment, looking down at the ground as he sighed, "I don't know." He looked over at his clawed hand reaching out, brushing a bit of her hair away from her face, "Get some rest, we still have Collectors to kill," he said. Standing up he left the room, leaving her to her thoughts.

"_I hope none of the others have changed…" _She thought to herself before her omni-tool beeped, raising her arm up she saw the mail icon blinking. Reaching out she pressed the button, the screen popping up in front of her eyes, it seemed the Illusive Man had three more dossiers for her, an assassin, a Justicar, and…Tali? She guessed she'd be seeing if she had changed.

He sat at the bar, a cup of whisky in his grip, his wrist slowly turning the ice in the glass before he took a sip. It was a long shot he knew to ask Jack to help him with his biotics, but she was the only person he trusted and was non-Cerberus to boot.

"What you played was beautiful," Kasumi's voice came from behind, slipping onto the chair next to him, her palms resting on the bar counter. "Who taught you how to play?" She asked.

"My father did at first," He answered, his hands rubbing the glass between his palms before he took another sip. "We had a piano in the basement of our house…he and I would spend hours down there when I was young," He said looking over at the piano, picturing those times together, he missed his father, his sisters, what he would give to see them again.

"I see…" Kasumi said, reaching out she patted his arm, it wasn't one of intimacy he knew that, his eyes looking at hers from beneath the hood. "Maybe you'll get to see something of home again?" She asked before getting up, leaving the room.

He wasn't sure what she meant by that, looking down at his whisky glass before he brought it to his lips, drinking the rest of its contents before setting it back down on the counter. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that whatever was left of his home was long gone.

His omni-tool suddenly beeped, looking down at it he caught the email icon blinking on his tool. His finger pressing it as the screen popped up into view. It wasn't an email of words, rather one of a picture. A picture that made him light headed, it was an aerial view of a piece of land and a house…a house known to him all too well. It was his home…170 years older.

**Authors Note: This chapter is a little short I know, but the next chapter will be longer promise! I do not own the song done in this story, it is called Hallelujah. A beautiful song if you haven't heard it before. Please review!**


	9. Back Scratching

Five Seconds

Chapter 9: Back Scratching

**Authors Note: I'm glad people enjoyed the last chapter it was my intention to have it be emotional and it seems I succeeded from what reviews say! But now it's time to get back to the action! I don't own anything in the Mass Effect Series, it is owned by Bioware and EA (Still waiting for that update *cough*)**

* * *

She groaned it felt as if a dozen hammers were raining down on her head, her tongue felt thick in her mouth as she shifted on her bed, moving to a cooler spot on her pillow. Jack had hoped being shit faced would help her forget Daemon and the man of her past, but instead she was rewarded with a fucked up dream of the Colonel playing the piano before he shifted into _him_ with his voice accusing her of leaving him when he sacrificed himself for her.

"_I didn't ask you to come back for me, I didn't!"_ She repeated over and over to him before she finally came back to reality and the pulsing headache that assaulted her.

"You should have drunk water before going to bed," a Japanese voice suddenly came from the shadows.

Jack jerked the pistol she kept beneath her pillow out, waving it around as she tried to find the source cursing, "Where the fuck are you kleptomaniac?"

"Well I'm certainly not going to show myself when you're waving that thing around, we don't need another person in the Med bay," Kasumi said, keeping to her word and not removing her stealth field.

She gritted her teeth as she put her pistol down, "There you happy?" She asked, the throb in her head growing from the thief's antics.

It seemed to have satisfied her because the next moment she appeared squatting on the crate across from Jacks bed, like some kind of Japanese toad as she looked at her, "How's our favorite convict today?" she asked in a sing song voice, but soft, she wasn't about to piss her off it seemed, smart woman.

"Thinking about killing a certain woman if she doesn't give me a fucking reason for being down here, what noise?" She asked, her fingers inching towards her pistol as if to accent her point.

"Oh the Colonel met Grunt today…if albeit roughly," The thief said vaguely, her hand rising up to her face as if she's looking at her nails.

For a reason she didn't understand that made her forget about her headache all together, "What do you mean roughly?" she asked.

The thief seemed to look up at the ceiling, "Welllll…." she started.

"Broken ribs?" She shouted as she stormed into the Med bay. The time between Kasumi telling her and the moment storming in was a blur and she seemed to have lost her shadow on the way since she was the only one walking in from what she was aware of.

The only other people in the room was Doctor Chakwas who seemed very cross at the sudden noise in her Med bay and Daemon who seemed to have just been wrapped in bandages. "He is quite fine dear, now please tone it down," the Doctor said in a soothing tone.

"Shut up," she said to the Doctor before she stomped over to the bandaged Colonel asking, "What the fuck were you thinking tangling with a krogan?"

He didn't seem to be in too much of a rush to answer, grasping the shirt next to him, a button up shirt, pulling it over his muscled shoulders which she couldn't help but look at for a quick moment before resuming her glare. He grimaced slightly when he tried to stand up, choosing to stay down as he sighed, "It's not like I did it intentionally Jack."

"Then that the shit happened?" She asked, _"And why am I asking so many damn questions?"_ she thought to herself.

He rubbed at his brow for a moment as if gathering his thoughts before he looked up at her saying, "This is what happened."

* * *

He didn't sleep well that night as usual; haunted by the ghosts of his past and what could be his possible future. When he woke up he saw that Kasumi was nowhere to be found. That started to become something of a common occurrence lately. Sure she was there when he fell asleep, but other than that he rarely saw her in the morning, unless the nightmares were really bad.

As he went into a sitting position the door opened, turning he saw Shepard poking her head in saying, "Good morning Colonel." From the look of her face it was clear she didn't get much sleep either, the bags heavy under her eyes and it was all too easy to tell she had probably been crying the entire night.

He quickly stood up, saluting the woman before he relaxed, "Good morning Commander, are we going on a mission?" He asked.

"We're picking up an old friend of mine, Tali, she's a quarian," Shepard answered.

He had to think back to before Omega and when Shepard showed him holos of each species he'd probably meet. From what he recalled quarians were a race that had such poor immune systems just exposure to the air would make them ill and so they were forced to wear something called enviro-suits for their entire lives. "I see, I'll go get ready then," He said waiting for her to leave, not wanting to be rude and move ahead of her.

"First I want you to go grab Grunt, he's in the cargo hold on the engineers' deck, you haven't met him yet and I want to bring him along," She said holding up a finger before she turned, "I'm going to grab Garrus."

"Alright, I'll go get him," He said, following after her as she left the room, they parted ways as he walked into the elevator, pressing the button for the fourth floor.

* * *

She had a feeling she was forgetting something as she was walking to the Battery. Garrus must have been in the middle of calibrations since it took him a minute before he turned around looking at her, "Shepard, feeling better?" he asked, though from the look on his face he seemed to know the answer.

"Not really, but this might help, we're picking up Tali," She said. She couldn't suppress a smile growing on her face at the thought of having another old friend with her.

"Good, we need more familiar faces around here, who else is coming with?" he asked curiously.

"Daemon and Grunt," She answered, "the Colonel is going down now to grab him." She couldn't help but feel like she was forgetting something once again.

Garrus seemed to freeze as he stared at her, mandibles twitching "You do remember krogan are territorial…right?" he asked slowly.

Silence filled the room along with horror before the two suddenly bolted from the Battery, running for the elevator.

* * *

He stepped out from the elevator, looking towards the door that led to where Jack stayed. He thought of going down to say 'hi', but decided it was probably far too early for her just to chat. Walking towards the cargo hold the door opened wide, seeing four crates stacked up near the door so he couldn't see the krogan. As soon as he walked into the room he already feel that it was too quiet. Instincts told him not to go further in, but he defied it, taking slow careful steps in past the crates he called out carefully, "….Grunt?"

All hell broke loose, a roar coming from behind the crates before they flew forward, blocking him from the door along with the blur of a charging krogan.

He didn't need the tingle in the back of his neck to tell him of the danger, trapped in a small confined space he didn't have room to maneuver, trying to dive to the side. He hadn't seen the shelf, resulting in his chest smacking against the shelf hard before he felt hands grabbing him. He could feel the wind rushing out of his lungs as he was slammed into the wall, a rock hard fist striking him in the ribs, he could have sworn he heard a _crack_ before a spasm of pain rocked through his body. It was almost impossible for him to breathe as each small intake of breath caused another rush of pain to course through him.

"Human, male," Grunt said as if categorizing him. Despite the pain rushing through him he was able to see what the krogan looked like. He had orange skin and a blue shell like head that looked as if it was shattered, and his reptilian eyes were a blue he didn't think a krogan could have. "Tell me the name of the man I'm about to kill," he grumbled.

"Colonel…Daemon…Heraldson…," he said between short breaths and between gritted teeth. His right hand rose up, pressing against the krogans neck as if trying to push him off weakly. Except he was actually moving his omni-tool to a position for the blade to pop out and take Grunt by surprise, he was hoping it wouldn't come to that, but his eyes were getting blurry. "Commander…sent me…to get you…" he added, hoping that would get the krogan to back off.

A deep throated growl came from Grunt, his strange nose flaring up; Daemon could only assume he was sniffing him. "I've heard of you…you come from a tank, like ice" He said curiously.

"Cryo tank…" He replied with a short breath, considering that since the krogan hadn't killed him after he said his name he thought he had a chance.

"Cryo…yes…" Grunt, well, grunted as if confirming it in his head. It brought a strange light in his eyes before he gave a little, rather creepy, laugh, "That makes you tank brother!" he shouted. The large krogan suddenly pulled him in, next thing he knew he was being squeezed so tightly he thought he heard another rib crack in his chest. He made a sound almost like a dying pig.

That was when he heard the door burst open, "Grunt sto-!" he heard Shepard start to say before she was no doubt stunned at the scene of a krogan hugging a human.

"Shepard!" Grunt said happily, suddenly dropping him, landing on his ass he felt another spasm of pain go through him. Whatever happened next he couldn't remember because the next moment he blacked out.

* * *

"And here we are," he finished, his hand gingerly rubbing at his chest before he winced.

"Your ribs will heal in a week with rest Colonel," Chakwas said, "The implants in your body will speed the healing process."

Jack just couldn't fathom what possessed him to go down there by himself, she just shook her head stunned, "You're a fucking idiot, but you got balls."

"Thanks…I guess?" He said with what sounded like uncertainty. She heard him clear his throat before he held his hand out in her direction, "I appreciate your concern Jack," he said with…gratitude?

Her jaw worked up and down for a moment, why the _fuck_ did she rush up here so fast? "Well…duh fucker," She scoffed rolling her eyes stalling so that she could make up a clever excuse, "I had to make sure you can still you biotics for practice," the _idiotic _words escaping her so quickly it was too late for her to take them back.

"So you'll help me?" He asked in a tone which sounded slightly excited, the glimmer of his green eyes looking into hers caused her stomach to squirm.

She groaned internally, reaching up she rubbed the back of her bald head saying, "That's what I said dumbass…let's get started." She suddenly turned leaving the room before she could say anything else stupid.

* * *

"I liked Arizona better," Shepard sighed as she hid behind a pillar, watching as a bug crawled into the light of the sun, only to burst into a small flame.

After Daemon had passed out she spent almost half an hour yelling at Grunt about hurting one of her 'clan'. It seemed that he was actually a bit remorseful seeing the Colonel as some kind of 'tank brother'. _"I guess those that lived in tanks stick together?" _She thought to herself before shaking her head. After leaving the Colonel in Chakwas care she decided to bring Zaeed along in replacement of Daemon.

"At least the sun there ain' trying to bloody roast us literally," Zaeed agreed gruffly, his own back pressed against the pillar.

The sound of gun fire came from behind the pillar, digging into the stone work. "And I bet there isn't any geth shooting at us," Garrus added, quickly leaning around the stone work, his shields sizzling as he fired off a shot.

It had been like this from the get-go. She, Grunt, Zaeed, and Garrus had been slowed down, diving between pillars and almost frying their shields as they shot at the geth who did not seem too effected by the sun's rays. Finally they had reached a gate to find a dead bloodied quarian and a recording left by the poor bastard. Hearing that Tali was there and that these soldiers were risking their lives to keep her safe gave her a mixture of relief and anxiety. At the pace they were going her anxiety started to grow for Tali's wellbeing.

"This is taking forever," She said as they moved behind another pillar, firing at the shimmering shape of a geth hunter. Those were also a tangent of irritation; it seemed that the upgrades Cerberus gave her allowed her to see the shimmer of the stealth fields where the others couldn't.

"No bits of metal is going to hold me back!" Grunt shouted before he suddenly charged, knocking over two geth, both of which never got back up. His momentum carried him to a large slab of stone, firing at the next on coming geth.

She was starting to appreciate Grunts ability to absorb such damage to his shields, making him an effective battering ram. It was thanks to him that they busted through the thicker lines of geth when she thought it would take forever.

"It's nice to have a krogan charging at our enemies for a change," Garrus saying her own thoughts exactly as they ran to join Grunt.

Finally they went through a tunnel; reaching the end she found a two dead quarians near each other. Bending down she picked up a Tempest-SMG, scanning its structure and blue prints, making a mental note to get some made for the team.

It was after she finished that she heard a voice coming from the dead quarian. _"OP-1, this is Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, come in, over!"_ the voice called out.

She bent down, picking the comm up, speaking into it, "This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy, can we provide assistance?"

The quarian on the other end didn't seem to question her, or perhaps he didn't have the time to ask questions as he said, _"Patch your radio into Channel 617 Theta, we were on a stealth mission, high risk, we found what we were after, but the geth found us." _As he talked each of them set their channel to the right frequency, catching the next bit in her comm, _"They got us pinned down, can't get to our ship and can't transmit data through the solar radiation."_

She nodded to the unseen voice, looking out over the area, she saw two quarians standing by a door, "How many of you are left?" she asked.

"_We were a small squad," _he answered, emphasizing the word _were_, _"dozen marines, plus the science team."_ He took a quick breath before continuing, _"We're down to half-strength now, made the synthetic bastards pay for it though."_

"What the hell brought you this far into geth space in the first place?" She asked, wondering what was worth all these lives.

He wasn't much help in that area. _"You're asking the wrong person Shepard, I just point and shoot," _He replied before he added, _"It's something about the sun, it's going bad faster than it should, some kind of energy problem."_

She shook her head slightly, a _sun_ brought them there? To some it sounded important, but not to her in the least. It was time to get back to business, "How are you holding up?" She asked, "We can be there in a few minutes."

"_We're bunkered down at base camp across the valley, left Tali'Zorah at a secure shelter, then doubled back to hold the choke-point," _as he said it the quarians ducked behind their barriers as they engaged more geth forces. _"Getting Tali out safely is our top priority," _He said firmly, _"If you can extract her, we'll keep them off you."_

"You sure the geth haven't reached Tali yet?" She asked, practically holding her breath as she waited for the answer.

"_Affirmative"_ He confirmed, she slowly exhaled in relief as he added, _"Left my best men with her, when you get here you can talk to her on the comm."_ _"Every marine on this rock is sworn to protect Tali, as long as one of us is still drawing air she'll be safe," _He said with a conviction that made her start to wonder.

That was for another time though, she raised her hand to her comm saying, "Hold your position, we'll hit their back ranks."

Just before they were about to join in the battle Kal'reegar's voice came in urgently, _"Wait watch your ass! We've got drop ships coming in!"_

Just as he said a geth drop ship swooped down in front of the quarians guarding the door, firing blue laser fire upon them. The quarians didn't stand a chance, being wiped out from the first volley. The pillar near the door swaying before it fell in front of the door, blocking it.

"That's just great…" She groaned.

* * *

"Nice, if you're trying to lift an ant," Jack said, standing in Daemons room. When he asked her to help him train in biotics she thought refining his skills…not starting from fucking _scratch_. "Where the fuck did you learn how to use biotics?" She asked almost speechless.

Daemon just shook his head as he sat down on his bed, looking at her as he said, "I didn't even know I was a biotic until….until I was on the Normandy."

She was thankful her hangover had vanished before they started; otherwise she thought she would probably _strangle_ him for making her headache worse. "Fucking perfect," She sighed, looking up at the ceiling, "do it again, and fucking _hold it_ this time."

She watched as he took a deep breath, lifting up a medium sized box as a blue swirl of biotics wrap around it. He brought it up higher and higher until it reached his eye level. They had been going about this for about an hour and the only improvement she saw was going from a ball to a box. While he held the box up she would start to put bottles of alcohol into it, his motivation for not dropping it was rather simple: She wouldn't teach him anymore if he dropped it.

A drop of sweat slid down the side of his face, she saw the concentration in his green eyes. She had to keep looking at his face since he took off his shirt before it got soaked in sweat. She heard a jingle as the box of alcohol started to wobble, seeing his muscled chest rise and fall as he started to get tired, slowly the box was eased back down, hovering above the ground for just another moment before landing lightly on the ground. She looked at her omni-tool, seeing that he beat his old time, "Twenty seconds, I'll be fucked you're actually getting better," She said before she suddenly threw a juice box at his head, "Take five."

She had expected the box to smack him, but his hand shot up catching the juice container before he carefully sat down on his bed. She wasn't sure why it helped, but it was what those fuckers at Cerberus fed her after using so much biotics, maybe those were drugged? She didn't want to think about it. The look on his face however made her wonder what _he_ was thinking about.

The cherry flavored juice went down his dried throat, helping the ease of the throbbing headache he had. He never pushed himself _this_ much when he practiced, the pressure in his head felt like something bad. However, it took Jack to tell him that was how she started to help ease his anxiety, willing himself to push harder. He looked over at her, taking in the scars, the tattoos, the look in her eyes…the sadness, and pain. She must have been through much that she was so closed off, so distant no one could get close.

He decided to try and close the distance asking, "Maybe you could tell me something about yourself?"

She looked shocked as if she wasn't expecting that question, "Why?" She asked, eyes narrowing just slightly.

"Why not?" He countered, his brow perking up just slightly.

That seemed to piss her off, a sneer crossing her lips as she said, "Stop fucking jerking me around and tell me why."

He didn't need his ability to know that she'd probably hit him with another juice box if she didn't get an answer. "I want to know more about you," he replied, looking into her brown eyes to show he wasn't kidding.

She just stared at him for a long moment, turning her head away, "I've been around," she said. Turning she walked over to the piano, looking out into space as her fingers slid across the glossy wood before she continued, "Ran with some gangs, wiped some out, joined a cult, kept the hair cut, I learned how to survive and not be a victim."

"When I hear cult I think of Charles Manson or Jim Jones and they had a lot of rules, doesn't sound like something you'd be into," He said, standing up carefully as he moved to sit on a bar stool looking at her face.

"Don't know who the fuck they are," She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I was looking for answers, drugs, sex, going to a better place," She scoffed softly, "going to a better place…right, it was all about money to them, shake down a colony to keep up their little vices, and guess who was their ace in the hole?" She asked rhetorically, her eyes never leaving the glass, "They didn't give a shit about me," she said.

"What happened when you realized that?" He asked.

She turned her head looking at him, "What do you think?" She asked.

He didn't need to think too hard, he remembered the Purgatory. "You sound as if you've met nothing but bad people Jack, no one can live their life without meeting at least one good person," he said, moving closer to her, standing on the opposite side of the piano.

"Everyone wants something, because of that everything is fair game," She said. He knew she was avoiding responding to his comment, even more so when she suddenly changed the subject, "Murder, assault, kidnapping, drug stealing, done it all, and that's the boring shit," She said suddenly. And she wasn't done with the list adding, "Piracy, theft of military craft, destruction of a space station, and vandalism," She laughed after the last one, "That was a good one."

"Why would you even mention vandalism in that list?" He asked, his brow perked up high.

"That's what the Hanaar call it when you crash that space station I mentioned into one of their moons and make a new crater," She didn't even bother to hide the grin and chuckle as she said, "They really liked that moon."

He just shook his head, he felt a smile tugging at his lips, "I don't think the people you stole the military craft from appreciated that," he said.

"Shouldn't have left the thing unlocked," She said with a smirk, "besides, parades are boring, I helped."

He couldn't help but conjure an image of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. All the floats and flying cartoon characters, everyone having a good time. Then Jack comes barreling through in a tank shouting "Yee Haw!" shooting down Snoopy with the tanks machine gun. A laugh escaped him at the mental image, having to place his hand over his mouth and that's when he realized it…this was the first time he'd laughed since he ever woke up.

"What's so funny?" She asked a curious look on her face.

He cleared his throat before he sat down on the piano stool saying, "Nothing, sorry…don't you ever regret what you do?" he asked, his fingers brushing over the ivory keys.

"No," She answered simply.

"Shouldn't you?" He persisted.

She flinched slightly, the veil she kept over her eyes slipping slightly showing her true feelings. "I shouldn't be alive, but I am," She said looking down at the ground was there a look of…guilt? She jerked her head up, looking at him; a slight sneer crossing her lips as the veil went back up "You know why?" She asked before answering herself, "Instinct it's worked for me so far and I'm not going to change."

"_There has to be something she isn't telling…"_ He thought looking down at the piano, looking at a reflection of himself in the glossy wood.

"No one's ever asked me about this shit…it's…weird to talk about…" She said rather softly. She looked at him jerked her thumb at the box, "So fuck you, and let's get back to work."

He just sighed, standing up from the stool he shook his arms, ready to get back to it.

* * *

Shepard dived behind cover as the explosion sent debris everywhere. When she peaked around to look she saw a huge chunk of the pillar had been blown to pieces, the door unblocked. If the quarian that set the charges of the explosives in _two_ different places wasn't dead, she was probably going to kill them. Grabbing the charges was a fight coming _and_ going, if she were to see another geth after this planet it was going to be all too soon.

"Took us bloody long enough," Zaeed huffed.

"I was hoping for more," Grunt complained.

"I'm betting those aren't the last," Garrus predicted.

"Let's just keep moving," She said, walking towards the door, it opened wide to a scene of dead geth and quarians spread out across the room. She walked in carefully, gun raised, clearing the room she walked over to a terminal, seeing a recording, Tali's face on the screen. She pressed the play button, hearing her voice.

"_Our ancestors walked these halls with uncovered heads," _She said, _"the sun must have been normal back then."_ She took a breath before she continued, _"So much space, walls of stone…I wish my friends were here…I wish Shepard was here…" _she sounded rather sad near the end of the recording, Shepard planned on giving the quarian a big hug when she found her.

After the terminal stopped playing she suddenly heard Tali's voice once again, _"Tali'Zorah to base camp, come in base camp."_

She got confused for a moment before looking across seeing Tali's face on another screen. She walked over to it, reaching out she pressed the speaker button saying, "Tali, it's me Shepard, I'm sorry but everyone here is dead, any survivors must have fallen back."

Tali placed her hand over her heart when she heard her voice, _"Shepard,"_ She exhaled with relief, _"I'm so glad you're here…we knew this was a high risk mission…damn it…"_ she cursed. _"What are you doing here Shepard?" _She asked, _"We're in the middle of geth space!"_

Shepard just smiled, leaning back she crossed her arms, "I was in the neighborhood, thought, 'hey why the hell not go visit Tali on a blistering hot planet?'" she joked.

Tali just tilted her head down, shaking her head, either from amusement or saying 'not funny' saying, _"I appreciate you coming Shepard…it is great to hear your voice."_ She squared her shoulders as if to get back to business, _"Kal'Reegar and what's left of the marines got me into the observatory, from where you are it's through the door and across the field."_ She took a quick breath before she continued, _"I got the data needed, and I'm safe for now, but I've got a lot of geth outside."_

Shepard nodded her head, looking over at the door seeing it locked she looked back saying, "It looks like they locked the door to keep any more geth getting through, think you can get it open on your side?"

Tali seemed to have started to press a few buttons, the door on Shepard's end suddenly turning green and opening as Tali said, _"It should be unlocked now."_

"You're the best Tali," Shepard said with a smile, "We'll see you soon." Tali's face fading from the comm she walked through the now open door.

The next room had closed windows, a console glowing near the middle window, she saw the door was locked. She walked over to the console, pressing buttons to override the lock down. As soon as the windows opened she saw multiple geth across the field, and a shape she wished she had never had to see again. A _fucking _colossus. The large geth creation slowly turned around to face them.

"Oh crap!" Garrus shouted, just as he said it a blue missile shot towards them, every one diving onto the ground as the explosion rocked the structure.

"Oh crap is a bloody understatement!" Zaeed cursed as he slowly picked himself back up.

"I hope it's like this every day!" Grunt shouted, pushing himself up onto his feet, bouncing as he punched a fist into the palm of his hand.

"God I hope not…" Shepard prayed as she pushed herself onto her feet, she didn't take the time to brush herself off, if Tali was in that door where the colossus was, she didn't have much time. Running she reached a ramp, seeing a red enviro-suited quarian crouched behind the barrier.

"Get behind cover!" He shouted, from the sound of his voice this must have been Kal'Reegar. As soon as the four got behind the wall he said, "I still have no idea why you're here, but this isn't the time to be picky!" A rocket shook the wall they were behind, causing him to jerk forward a bit, "Tali's inside over there," he said, pointing across the field, "The geth killed the rest of my squad, and they're trying to get to her, best I've been able to do is draw their attention."

Another rocket caused Shepard to jerk slightly as the ground shook, shouting, "Are you sure she's still alive?"

"The observatory is reinforced," He reassured her, "Even the geth will need time to get through it, also" He chuckled, "it's hard to hack a door when someone's firing rockets at you." He looked over the barrier a moment before looking back at them, "The geth are near platoon strength," he continued, "but the colossus is the worst part, it's got a repair protocol, huddles up and fixes itself."

"Shit…" Shepard cursed, things just kept getting better and better. "So any ideas?" she asked.

"Just one," he said, "I'm not moving so well but I can still pull a trigger, and I've got a rocket launcher the sun hasn't fried yet." He tapped his rocket launcher with his hand before he said, "You get in close, I'll keep the colossus busy, maybe even drop its shields, and with a bit of luck you'll be able to finish it off."

"You've done enough Reegar, you don't have to throw your life away," She said, disagreeing with his idea.

Reegar shook his head disagreeing as well, "I wasn't asking for your permission," he got up, pointing the rocket as he said, "My job is to keep Tali safe and this is our best sh-"

He was interrupted when Shepard got up, pushing him against the wall shouting, "We don't have enough man power for you to take a hit for the team, stand down!"

She ducked back under cover, Reegar joining her as he said, "I'm not just going to sit here while you run into enemy fire! They killed my whole squad."

"And if you want to honor your squad cover my back in case they bring reinforcements!" She shouted back.

He seemed to be having conflicting thoughts because it took him a moment to finally give in, "Alright Shepard, we'll do it your way, hit-em for me, Keelah se'lai!"

* * *

He groaned in pain, getting hit with _another_ rubber bullet in his leg.

"Stop bitching it wouldn't hurt if you just _held_ the barrier up!" She said as she reloaded the pistol. "Be lucky I'm not using the shot gun yet," she patted the weapon set next to her on the bar table.

After their break she had got him working for another hour on barriers, he thought all he would have to do is make it and hold it…then she suddenly pulled out her _gun_ and started shooting live rounds at him. If he hadn't known when to move he'd more than likely been shot when his barrier gave away. She wanted him to stay still, and he wanted her to not _kill _him during practice. They had reached an agreement in using practice rounds and him not moving.

"You keep shooting me in the _exact_ _same spot_ of course it's going to start hurting!" He said, as he shifted his stance, shaking his leg.

"I can't shoot at your face or chest, so I'm going to shoot your leg unless you want a few more broken ribs," She said as she pointed the gun at his chest.

"No I'm good," he shook his head, his body slick with sweat, he was so tired, but he wasn't going to ask for a break, he focused again, taking deep slow breaths as the blue shimmer of a barrier formed in front of him, wavering from his exhaustion.

He felt her eyes upon him before she lowered the pistol saying, "That's enough, drink a juice bar and wash up before you stink up the place." He watched as she started to leave.

"Jack," He said, seeing her stop and look at him waiting, "You don't have to do this…teaching me you know."

She looked away, hiding her face as she said in a slight harsh tone, "You saved my ass on Horizon, I don't like having debts."

"You don't owe me anything," He said, sitting down on his mattress.

"Well…tough shit," She spat before she left.

He looked down at the ground, his fingers clasping together. He thought about what she said, _"I shouldn't be alive, but I am."_ If anyone shouldn't be alive it was him, what happened in her past that could make her feel so…_guilty _about being alive.

He was too tired to take a shower, carefully easing himself down lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He raised his arm up, omni-tool glowing; pressing a few buttons he lowered his arm, closing his eyes as a song came out from the speakers in the room.

_Some nights, I stay up cashing in my bad luck_

_Some nights, I call it a draw_

_Some nights, I wish that my lips could build a castle_

_Some nights, I wish they'd just fall off_

_But I still wake up, I still your ghost_

_Oh Lord I'm still not sure what I stand for oh oh oh_

_What do I stand for? What do I stand for?_

_Most nights, I don't know anymore…_

* * *

"Reloading!"

"Firing!"

"I. AM. KROGAN!"

Shepard had decided to go with the high ground, having Garrus and Zaeed shoot the geth on the bottom as she and Grunt moved forward. It was easy to cut through the geth from their position, but then they reached the colossus, that was when things got difficult.

The geth artillery was heavily shielded, a part of her regretting not having Reegar help in firing his rocket. "Switch to disruptor mods!" She shouted, flipping a switch on her rifle as a blue icon of a bullet appeared on the side of her rifle.

The others did the same, flicking a switch on their weapons before they opened fire. "Its' shields are dropping!" Garrus said, looking through his visor as they kept the bullets flying.

"Keep at it," Shepard ordered, putting away her rifle, jerking out her grenade launcher, readying a shot.

"Almost there…" Garrus murmured, reloading his rifle before he fired again, "Fire!"

Shepard pulled the trigger of her grenade launcher, the projectile flying towards the colossus' eye. The colossus' head suddenly exploded, swaying on its' stubby legs before it fell over on its side, crackling violently before it blew up, spraying metal and rubble everywhere.

"About bloody time," Zaeed grunted as the group walked over towards the rubble, looking around before they finally walked towards the door.

The door burst open wide as Shepard walked towards it, dead geth near the door, and across the room she saw the familiar purple color of Talis' enviro-suit. "Just one moment I need to finish this down load," She said, tapping at the console before she finally turned around to look at her. "Thank you Shepard," She started, "If it wasn't for y-Eep!" the quarian yelped as Shepard suddenly grabbed the woman, hugging her very tightly.

"I'm so glad to see you Tali…" she said, feeling her old friend hug her back, for the first time in a while, everything seemed right in the galaxy.

* * *

**Authors Note: So ends this chapter, please tell me what you think! I personally thought the little scene with Grunt and the Colonel was rather cute, while Grunt is supposed to be a perfect soldier I feel there is a bit of a childish side to him, like Lennie from Mice and Men, but I may be wrong! Tell me in reviews what you think!**


	10. Asari Gumbo

Five Seconds

Chapter 10: Asari Gumbo

**Authors Note: Thank you for everyone that sent a review, it is all very much appreciated. Also a thanks to the person that pointed out my error in chapter five, I keep thinking of Purgatory as the bar on the citadel in the third game and can't imagine it being repeated twice (shows what I know). As I said all grammar flubs are my own, and I do not own anything in the Mass Effect Series (Except Daemon I guess _ he was my idea after all).**

* * *

He woke up an achy sensation all across his body. His green eyes slowly opening, staring up at the ceiling, head pounding from the strain of practice. He sat up carefully, mindful of his ribs as he sighed. He kept his button up shirt unbuttoned, looking down at his wrap, he thought it would be best to get a change of clothing and bandages. Standing up he walked towards the door, opening wide as he almost walked into someone he had to guess was a quarian from the enviro-suit.

"O-Oh! S-Sorry," The speaker toned voice said, making her a female he assumed, now seeing the rest of her body confirmed his suspicions.

"No I'm sorry, Colonel Daemon Heraldson, can I help you?" He asked, his head tilting to the side, wondering what a stranger needed from him.

"S-Shepard s-said I should meet the r-rest of the c-crew, T-Tali'Zorah vas Neemah," She stuttered, holding out her hand, he noticed how she only had three fingers.

He didn't want to stare so he reached out, taking her hand as best as possible, and shaking it noting that she didn't squeeze that hard. "You're the first quarian I've met, so I apologize if I say anything that's offensive in your culture," He said.

"A-Ah don't worry about it, S-Shepard t-told me a-about your situation…I-I'm really sorry, I-I can't imagine what t-that is like," the quarian responded.

"Are you alright?" He asked. He wasn't sure if she had a stutter, or if there was something else wrong.

"No! I mean, yes," She said quickly, if he had to guess she must have taken a deep breath before she continued, by changing the subject, "Shepard wanted me to let you know that Jack is acting up in the engineer deck…"

That made him frown, "Is she alright?" he asked. What could have happened from between the time she left and now?

"I don't know, Keelah I went to meet her and she screamed curses at me! I thought she was going to kill me," She said, placing her hand over her heart as if the thought made her jump.

He reached up, rubbing his ear at the word 'Keelah' the translator must have acted up at that moment cause he wasn't sure what that meant. "I'll try to talk to her then, thank you Miss…Neemah?" he asked unsure.

"Oh please!" She started, "Call me Tali, Neemah is the name of the ship I was stationed on."

"Alright Tali," He said with a nod of his head, "It's a pleasure meeting you."

"Oh! Before I forget Shepard thought you'd like to come see Illium," She added before she turned to let him through.

"I'll see if I can get Jack to come along with, some air might help," He said before he walked towards the elevator, "Thank you for coming to see me Tali."

The last glimpse he had of her was her head tilted down, was that…in a shy way? He pressed the button for the fourth floor, sighing as the door closed.

"Looks like you got her hot and bothered," A voice suddenly came from his left. He practically jumped, his head whipping around to see Kasumi standing next to him, giving that once over she sometimes did, "And I don't blame her with how you're dressed," she pointed out at him.

He looked down, realizing his chest was showing, he quickly started to button up, feeling embarrassed, he was going to get the bandaging changed so he hadn't bothered buttoning. _That _was why she was acting strangely he finally realized. "I didn't mean to do that," he said, buttoning up just until the neck.

"Of course you didn't," she said in a relaxed tone, "doesn't change the fact that you did, and Jack seems to be….irritated with something."

"Any idea about what?" He asked, seeing that they were just about to hit the fourth floor.

"I don't know, I certainly wasn't about to pry," She said, placing a hand on her chest, "I'm curious not suicidal, just be careful when you go down there."

"I'll keep that in mind," He promised, the elevator making a soft _ding_ as the doors opened. He stepped out, looking to the left he saw Zaeed fingering his gun as if he was expecting a charging krogan. Which might have been the case, his head jerking to the left, nope, Grunt was standing by the door as well, nose flared and looking combat ready.

"She's been cussin' since last night," Zaeed said, "Anyone that tries to go down there gets even more cusses from 'er"

"I can smell the anger from here tank brother," Grunt sniffed, "best be careful."

Almost on cue he could hear the swearing from behind the doors, a tingle of fear sliding up his spine. The _hate_ behind those words was so much, she could have been screaming rainbows and kittens and no one would dare to go down there. He looked over at Zaeed and then Grunt, "I'll be careful," he said, clearing his throat as he delved into the lion's den.

* * *

"Fucking shit holes!" She cursed, pacing back and forth; she'd been pacing back and forth all night, her mind buzzing with the information that she found in the Cerberus files. Her hands rubbing at her skull, her fingers flexing, she wanted to…wanted to… "SHIT!" She shouted out loud before she stopped, seeing _him_ standing there. Her anger was already boiling over and she sure as hell wasn't going to let him stop her, "Get the _FUCK _out of here!" she shouted at him.

She expected him to move, shout back, tell her to 'calm down', but he just…stood there. The only thing on him that moved was his green eyes when they blinked slowly.

That stunned her for a moment before she gritted her teeth, "I ain't fucking kidding, leave or I swear I'll shoot you in five seconds!" she threatened pulling out her gun, pointing it straight at his leg.

Anyone else that would have made them flinch back, move, or _leave. _ He just….kept fucking _standing there_. His face said nothing, but there was a hint of amusement at the 'five seconds' comment.

She stood there, pointing the gun at him, her fingers twitching around on the trigger, five seconds slowly passed. She just cursed explosively tossing her gun away shouting, "SAY SOMETHING GODDAMMIT!"

He said nothing for a moment slowly walking towards her he stopped, looking down at her, his green eyes reflecting her face, she felt her chest tighten for reasons she wasn't sure about. "What's wrong Jack?" He finally asked not angry, not irritated, just…calm.

The over flowing anger was suddenly capped off, it was hard to keep shouting at someone when they were wouldn't reciprocate. Her jaw worked up and down as she reached up, grasping her head as she started to pace, "I've got these…things crawling about in my head and they won't stop!" She suddenly turned towards him, walking past as she went to sit on the stairs, her fingers clasping together, her anger threatening to boil up again.

"Will you tell me about it?" She heard him ask, he had followed her, staying standing as she felt his eyes looking into hers.

She clenched her fingers together to keep them from moving, turning her head to look to the side. "You know I have history with Cerberus," she started, "do you know how far back it goes?"

He just shook his head, signifying he had no idea. She didn't expect him to know, it was more of a way for her to start to tell the rest of her story. "Shepard's pal the Illusive Man? Never seen him before, but Cerberus raised me. First thing I remember is my cell door in a Cerberus base," She said.

She watched as he moved closer, his eyes clearly showing that he was paying attention. "They did experiments" she continued. "Drugged me. Tortured me. Whatever chance I had to be normal, they stole it by trying to turn me into some super-biotic," she looked past him, feeling the memories start to bubble up from the mire. "The doctors…the other kids…Every one of them hated me," she said as her teeth clenched, her anger rising, "They let me suffer."

"They just tortured you?" He asked. Did she catch a bit of anger in his voice? "What point was there in that?"

"Something about pain breaking down mental barriers," She explained, "and how it might clear the way for more biotic power." She spat on the metal flooring as she sat "I'm sure there was a payoff due at some point, but I wasn't going to see it, I was wired up in a cell."

"They ruined a little girls life just to make a strong biotic?" He asked sounding stunned.

"Wasn't in a position to _ask_ Daemon," She took a deep breath before she added, "All I know is…a little girl crying in a cell…begging for the pain to stop…" She felt her throat clench, closing her eyes, she was _not _going to think about that, not now.

She felt something touch her shoulder, turning her head she saw him sitting down next to her brown eyes looking into his green pools. She felt her face grow hot, suddenly jerking away from him, standing up as she left him sitting on the step. He didn't follow, but there was a look of apology on his face.

What was…with him? He made no sense, that hand was placed there in a romantic intention it was…comforting. She didn't like it; it wasn't familiar. Not since…

"What about the other children?" He suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

She appreciated the interruption, looking over at him, "I didn't know much about them," she answered, "I was kept separate, and they hated me just like everyone else there." She felt a sneer twitching at her lips as she said, "When I broke out, I had to fight through them all, I showed them, but there's a loose end I need to deal with."

"How did you get away?" He asked.

"There was some kind of emergency," she answered, her mind going back to that day as she talked about it, "I made a break for it, the other kids came out of their cells, and attacked me, guards included." She took a deep breath to push it back down as she said, "I just killed everything in my way and ran, guess my biotics had developed faster than they thought." "I managed to get a shuttle off the ground, drifted in space until a freighter picked me up…the crew used me, then sold me…" She finally finished, looking at him, "That's my uplifting escape story," she made sure to let that last bit to ooze with sarcasm.

"I don't know about the kids, but the men had it coming to them," she heard him say, the dark look in his eyes made her perk a brow.

"Well they got it," she said, her lips curling into a wicked grin, "Turns out, mess with someone's head enough and you can turn a scared kid into an all-powerful bitch…fucking idiots."

"You've been holding this in all your life Jack…what got you riled up?" Daemon asked.

"I found the coordinates in the files," she said as she started to pace back and forth. "I want to go to the Teltin facility on Pragia, where they tortured and drugged me," Her words coming out of her in a rush now, a spurt of anger coming to her as she continued, "I want to go to the center of the place, my cell, I want to deploy a big _fucking bomb_ and I want to watch from orbit when it goes." Her hands exaggerating the size of the bomb as she walked towards Daemon.

She could see the wheels going in his mind as he thought about it before he said, "Cerberus are a bunch of terrorists, blowing up one of their facilities and killing people just makes us as bad as them."

She just shook her head, "The files say it was shut down after my escape, it's been abandoned for years, the only thing we're gonna fucking _terrorize_ are a few squirrels."

She thought that he would tell her to leave it behind, to get over it, but instead he stood up, walking down the steps, standing in front of her. "I'll talk to the Commander if you want me to…convince her to take us to this facility as soon as possible," he said.

Her jaw dropped just a little, working up and down, she looked to the side, murmuring "I'd owe you another one Daemon…" Her eyes closed to keep her emotions from showing in her treacherous eyes.

She felt his hand touch her shoulder, _lightly_, this time as she heard his voice in her ear, "I told you Jack…you don't owe me anything." Silence followed for a moment before she heard him again, "Shepard wants me to come with her onto this planet called Illium…why not come with? You could use the fresh air."

She thought about it honestly for a moment, but then she just shook her head, "I need time alone…figure this shit out…" she said.

"Alright…we practice again when I get back?" he asked, his footsteps already fading away as he climbed the steps, the door opening then closing.

"Yeah sure…" she said to herself, her eyes finally opening as tears started to spill out from her eyes, smearing her mascara once again. Walking over to her bed she buried her face into her pillow, curling up into a ball. Weeping alone once again.

* * *

"You sure about this?" Shepard asked one more time, watching Joker as he sat on a hovering chair.

"Yeah why not? Could use a little fresh air," the crippled pilot said, floating over to the air lock with her, Garrus, and Tali.

She wasn't concerned with him ending up in a combat situation, not in the slightest since they were only going out to shop for supplies, and to visit an old friend of theirs. Liara.

The Illusive Man told her how the asari was working with the Shadow Broker, and therefore couldn't be trusted. She just couldn't imagine sweet innocent Liara working for someone like him, or her, but then again she thought Kaiden would be excited to see her….she immediately had to cut off that line of thinking.

Why she was surprised at Jokers sudden need for fresh air was that the pilot rarely left the ship, hell, she wasn't sure if he ever left that _chair_. Which gave her one or two unpleasant images that made her shudder internally.

"Commander," She suddenly heard Daemons voice coming from behind her, turning he saw him. He was wearing a green leather jacket, the word 'Rangers' stitched on his shoulder. It was something she found while on the Citadel, but with all the things happening lately she had forgotten to give it to him until earlier.

"Colonel," She said back to him, nodding her head. "Ready to see another new world?" She asked.

"As ready as I will ever be," he responded. She watched as the black haired man looked over at Joker, "Mr. Monroe," he said in a formal tone.

"Call me Joker, Ice cube," he said.

"Joker…" Shepard started, thinking of pushing over the pilots hover chair.

"I take it back, I take it back," he said, waving his hand in a calming manner.

She watched as Daemon just perked a brow up at the pilot, shrugging his shoulders saying, "Okay Joker."

"Alright then, let's get going," She turned, Garrus, Tali, and Joker moving on right ahead of her.

Just as she was about to join them when she heard, "Commander, can I talk to you for a second alone?"

She turned around to see Daemon standing close to her as if he didn't want anyone else to hear. "Sure what's up?" She said, crossing her arms.

She listened as he told her about his conversation with Jack. She was frowning by the time he finished; he seemed to be rather intent on helping Jack. "I'll put the coordinates into the navigation," she promised, "But it will have to wait, Jacob and Miranda came to me with problems of their own as well, and I'm taking them one at a time, fair?"

Daemon looked down at the ground, she watched him bite his bottom lip before he nodded, saying, "Fair…I just…know what it's like…needing closure…" He looked up at her before he asked, "Commander, did you send me an email?"

Her brows furrowed at the sudden question, shaking her head, "No I didn't, why?"

"I got an anonymous email…someone took the time to get a picture of my house…in this present…" he said, the look in his eyes intense, "Commander, my home is out there…I…need to go there."

She didn't like the sound of that, anything anonymous on her ship wasn't something she liked. "I don't like the sound of that Daemon, it's too suspicious," She said.

"It's a risk I need to take Shepard, please," the sound of his voice, he was almost…begging, eyes becoming glossy.

It was then she realized this was the first time he's called her 'Shepard'. She took a deep breath; reaching her hand up she rubbed her brow. "When we can we'll go back to Earth…I promise," she said.

"Thank you….Commander," he said, correcting himself as he saluted her.

"I think I liked it better when you called me Shepard…Daemon," She said with a smile.

Daemon cleared his throat, reaching back he rubbed the back of his head, "Well…" he started before he just swallowed.

She just chuckled as she shook her head, "C'mon" she said, "let's get going."

* * *

Illium wasn't what he expected. It made him imagine how Cloud City from Star Wars would have looked like. With all the white towers, white floors, it was just…white. It turned out while he and Shepard were talking an asari had approached the group and told them that a Liara T'Soni had paid all fees for their docking. Apparently the woman was an information broker and her office was above the 'trade market floor'. Shepard was all the more excited after hearing that, Garrus and the rest of the group as well. Apparently they had been close before from what he heard of their chatting.

He stayed silent while they talked, being the odd man out in the group made him feel a bit off. But soon enough as they walked through the market, something started to bother him. It was clear to him after only a few minutes being there that this was a place heavily populated with asari…but he started to feel confused. They passed a volus, which made him think of an overly large gopher, and an asari talking about what he had to assume were stocks. It was amazing that even over 170 years in the future people still had those kinds of things, even in alien society. From all he'd seen, aliens were just like humans, just different.

Instead of going through the rest of the market they veered to the right, walking past what must have been and door and going up stairs. When they reached the top they were greeted by what must have been a secretary.

The woman stood up and then spoke in a rather peculiar voice, "Hello Commander Shepard" She said, "Liara will be pleased to see you."

Shepard looked at the woman peculiarly for a moment before she jerked her thumb at the door, "Is she in?" she asked.

The woman nodded her head, "Oh yes," she said, "Liara has been working _so_ hard lately she hardly leaves her office, such a determined woman."

Daemon couldn't help but wonder if this woman was _fawning_ over this Liara, or was being sarcastic; it was a very blurry line in his mind.

He gave the woman a long look as they turned away from her, he could almost feel a chilling sensation on the back of his neck. He tried to shake it off…but he had a bad feeling about that woman. As the door to what must have been Liara's office he thought back to what Shepard said about the woman. From her point of view this asari was a saint that would cry at the sight of a dead kitten…well so would he, but that wasn't the point. The woman should be, as Shepard put it, "A cute softy"

As soon as the door opened he got an entirely different impression of the woman, "Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before?" this 'softy' said in the most sinister voice he'd heard outside of a movie, "Few humans have," she said. He watched as the asari tapped at a data pad before she said, "I'll make it simple, either you pay me, or I flay you alive…_With my mind_," she emphasized before she cut off communications.

He finally got to see her face when she turned around. A lot of asari looked alike to him, and he thought that it was because of how he hadn't seen many. However, when he saw her face it was obvious that she wasn't a normal looking asari, her face was more…unique, beautiful, her blue eyes and blue lips, if he was ever into aliens she probably would have been the one to do it. Her sinister face suddenly vanished as soon as she saw Shepard, suddenly saying something to her creepy secretary about 'Holding her calls'. She then in turn hugged Shepard, for a rather long time he noted, then Garrus, then Tali, and then Joker.

When it came to him he could tell that she was giving him a once over as if he was something curious. "Colonel Daemon Heraldson," he introduced himself to avoid an awkward silence, going with an offering of a hand shake.

"Liara T'soni," She said in turn, shaking his hand. It wasn't a soft weak shake, but firm and confident. He watched as she turned, walking back over to her desk.

What proceeded that made him feel rather out of the loop. It was all going 'back in the day' talking about their past missions or catching up. Just when he couldn't handle it any more he felt a hand tug on his jacket. Looking down he saw Joker looking up at him, jerking his head to the side as if saying 'Let's go' he turned his head looking over at Shepard before he said, "Hey Commander, me and the Colonel are going to take a bit of a walk." She just looked over her shoulder, nodding her head before she turned back to talk with Liara.

* * *

"You didn't need to come with me you know Joker," He said as they moved down the steps.

"Yeah well nostalgia is nice, but it can get a bit boring after a while," He replied, shifting in his floating wheel chair.

They moved back onto the trade floor, standing near the railing, looking out over Illium. It was an indeed a beautiful planet, but as he looked around at the asari women he couldn't help but feel confused again. "Joker…I have a possibly dumb question," He said as he looked down at the pilot.

"Oh well then I'm definitely the one you want to ask," he said, looking up at him with a smirk.

Daemon considered not asking…but he had to know, "I've only been seeing asari women ever since I've woken up…where are the men?" he asked.

The silence that followed was rather palpable, he started to wonder if Joker was going to even answer when: "Be careful how loud you ask that question," he said in a serious tone that he didn't expect from the pilot.

Daemon looked down at the man, his face matching the tone. "….Why?" he asked.

Joker looked over his shoulder for a moment before he started to whisper, "They keep them hidden in asari space as slaves."

His eyes widened as he heard that, "The council allows slavery?" he asked stunned.

"Shhhhh!" he placed his finger over his lips with an intensity. "It's not considered slavery to them, more like culture," he continued, "They've been like this for _ages_."

"Why do they do that to them?" Daemon asked, finally slipping into a whisper of his own.

"Like I said culture…" Joker replied before he added, "They use them for a lot of things…and when breeding season comes around…well let's just say they offer more than just asari males."

"….What?" He asked stunned.

"Asari are practically capable to have children with any race," Joker explained. "To keep up genetic diversity they'll take human males, drell, turians, even krogan if they can get their hands on them," he said in a whisper before he looked over his shoulder and added, "and I think it's getting close to the season."

His eyes widened, looking over his shoulder quickly, his mind shooting back to how Liara looked at him. _"Oh my God I'm going to get abducted,"_ He thought, eyes darting back and forth at the other asari.

"They can refuse to put out though," Joker said, breaking his thought process.

"What happens to the humans that refuse?" he asked, rather scared to know if he had to be honest.

"Calamari gumbo is a delicacy in asari space," Joke responded.

He swallowed hard, his eyes now looking at every asari with suspicion; he wanted to get back on the Normandy _now_. To his relief Shepard and the rest of the group were already coming towards them. "Liara knows that Thane Krios and Samara came here," Shepard said, "But it's going to take her a day to find out how we can contact them."

"Alright, we're heading back to the Normandy right?" He asked, trying to hide how anxious he was to feel the confines of the ship around him right now.

Shepard lifted a brow at him before she nodded her head, "Yes we are, you alright?"

"Oh yeah sure," Daemon nodded his head, suddenly turning before he suddenly walked in the direction to the Normandy.

Shepard looked down at Joker, "What's wrong with him?"

"No idea," he said with a shrug.

* * *

She wasn't sure what she had expected when she went to go see Liara, but it certainly wasn't _that._ It felt like deja vu when she walked into the room, hearing the same words her mother had used before they had fought to the death. The soft sweet Liara had changed into a cold woman that would break your knee cap…or flay you with her mind. She was slowly starting to not recognize her old team. Even Tali was different, but in a good way at least. She was amazed how the changes bothered her.

It had been a few hours since they got back onto the Normandy and Shepard couldn't stay still. She had talked with Mordin when they got back on and found out that he had problems of his own. A student of his, Malone, had been kidnapped by krogan on Tuchanka. Everyone seemed to be having something they needed, even Daemon. She stood in the elevator as she went down to the crew deck, that message that Daemon got worried her the most. Who sent it? It must have been someone closely related to this mission, the only people even _aware _of his existence were only a handful of people. Not to mention why would they do that? What was the angle? All these thoughts going through her mind as the elevator door opened.

She turned to the left as she saw Daemon walking out of his room, giving a nod to him. He was wearing his same white shirt and camo pants, she couldn't help but feel worry for him.

They walked together towards Mr. Gardner, where to her surprise she would find Joker sitting at a stool. "Joker what are you doing down here?" She asked.

"Hey Commander, Colonel, Gardner just wanted someone to try something he cooked up, so I volunteered, why don't you both try?" he asked, patting a stool next to him.

"Finally making use of the groceries I got eh Gardner?" She asked as she sat down, Daemon joining her.

"I picked up a few things while we were docked, here!" he placed three bowls with bits of meat in a broth.

The three of them took a bite; she had to admit it was rather delicious, nodding her head as she took another scoop. "What is it?" Daemon asked as he also scooped up another bit.

"Calamari Gumbo," Gardner said, Shepard heard a clatter of a spoon, looking over she saw that Daemon turned a little green. Gardner didn't seem to notice, "It's an asari recipe, seems a bit cannibalistic what with-"

Daemon suddenly jumped off the stool, running as if hell were on his heels before he disappeared behind the corner. She could _hear_ the violent vomiting from her seat.

"Their tentacles and all…" Gardner finished.

"Wonder what got into him," She heard Joker say.

* * *

**Authors Note: So ends this chapter! Sorry it took so long, I've been a bit busy, real life is a bitch sometimes. I thought this was the best way to have Joker and the Colonel bond for the first time :3. Please review and tell me what you think!**


	11. Praying Mantis

Five Seconds

Chapter 11: The Praying Mantis

**Authors Note: I apologize for how long it took for me to get this finished up, I allowed myself to get distracted. I'll try to do better, but for now? Back to the action! I do not own anything in the Mass Effect series, it's owned by Bioware and EA.**

* * *

_He hurt, not in just one spot, but everywhere, as if someone had pummeled him with sledgehammers. There was something muffled in the background…screaming? Who was screaming? Suddenly it came back to him, his eyes opening to the nightmare unfolding in front of him. The men's backs were to him, to focused on their prey, her screams only bringing laughter to them as they tore at her clothes. He had felt anger before, after years of bullying, but this…_this_ was a something altogether different…He had to protect her…but how? His eyes caught the gleam of silver near him. The revolver. The bastard must have dropped it. His arm reached for it weakly, his blurred vision making it difficult to grasp it before his fingers wrapped around the handle. His eyes clearing as he looked at it, he had never handled a gun before, he hated guns, but he knew how this one worked from the movies. He slowly raised his arm up, his breathing quickening, his chest on fire; he must have a broken rib or multiple. Looking down the sight of the barrel he pointed at one of the men, the one that he hated most. His finger trembles at the trigger, could he do it? Could he kill a man in anger? To protect her? He prayed for forgiveness as he pulled back the hammer…his finger pressing against the trigger._

His eyes snapped open as he suddenly drew in a deep breath of air. He raised his hand to his forehead, pulling back to see it slick with sweat, or perhaps it was already there to begin with. His head turned towards the window, seeing the stars outside. At times he expected to wake up, turn to see the sun shining in through the window and be back in his old bed. Instead he stared out at the huge expanse of the galaxy, so many people out there, human and alien, yet at times he felt as if he was alone in the universe.

After a moment he started to feel as if someone was looking at him, turning his head towards the bar he saw Jack sitting alone at the bar, an uncorked bottle of alcohol by her elbow. Her head turned away from him.

"How long have you been sitting there?" He asked, slowly slipping out of bed, pulling on a button up shirt to cover himself as he moved to sit down next to her at the bar.

"Long enough to finish one bottle," she said, bringing the bottle to her lips, taking a sip from it as she slapped it back down onto the counter.

"I spoke with the Commander, about your…problem," he said, clasping his hands together as he rested them on the counter.

"Well don't keep me fucking waiting," Jack said as she looked at him with intensity in her brown eyes.

He couldn't help but be caught in her intensity, looking into her eyes before he blinked, "Shepard got piled on with problems from the other the other crew, but she'll bring you to Pragia."

"…Thanks," she said as she bowed her head down, again it sounded as if she was unused to saying that word.

He just nodded at her as he turned his head to look out at the stars "My internal clock has been messed up since I came on this ship…I don't know whether it's day or night."

"Where we are now it's day time," she said as she looked at him with a perked brow, "You've been on a fucking ship before haven't you?"

His mouth opened just a little bit, he had not told her anything about his past, didn't want to, to be honest Shepard telling the other crew about his past bothered him. To be fair the others should know about his limitations, but the more people that knew…the more chance of attention being drawn to him from other people than just Cerberus. However, that wasn't the reason he didn't want to tell her. A part of him was afraid that if she knew, she wouldn't look at him the same way that she did now. He didn't want to lie to her either, he knew from some of her recounts of people she met that trust was a fragile thing with her, and once it shattered, you'd better get out of the way before she reached you.

Luckily for him before he could get a word out the door opened, Shepard walking in already in her armor. He was about to get up to salute her before she held her hand up, stopping him in mid motion. "At ease Colonel," she said before she brushed some imaginative thing off her shoulder, "We're going to go pick up our assassin, in the mean time I have a job for you and Tali to do."

"What do you need us to do?" He asked, wondering why it involved just him and Tali.

"You and Tali are going to help Liara find someone named the Observer, she has it narrowed down to five individuals, a batarian, a turian, a krogan, a salarian, and a vorcha." She replied, from the look on her face this wasn't something that she was happy about.

"And bring them in," He said, assuming that that was the case.

He watched as she bit her lip in hesitation, he started to get a bad feeling and it was confirmed when she said, "She's going to kill them."

He shifted some in his seat uncomfortably, looking over at Jack for a moment who was watching both of them curiously. When the time for battle came up he would pick up his gun and fight as a soldier. However, this wasn't more of a battle then assisting in an assassination or execution of someone that could be more or less defenseless.

Shepard must have seen the hesitation in his eyes, "I'm not happy about it either," she said, "but she's going to do it whether we help or not, and I'd rather she killed the right person, not the wrong one."

He had to assume that Shepard wouldn't have asked him if this was an innocent person he had to find, she didn't seem like the kind to harm innocents. He slowly nodded his head "If that's what you need us to do Commander…we'll do it."

"Thank you…" She said with a sigh, "We'll set out in less than an hour; you won't need to suit up for this one." As she turned and left he couldn't help but feel it was a walk of…shame?

"What the fuck is her issue?" Jack wondered out loud, her hand reaching for the bottle of booze once more.

His hand slipped over, grasping the bottle to pull it away from her as her hand over laid his. The feel of her hand on his sent a tingle down his spine as his head turned to look at her as she whipped around to look at him. Silence ensued for a moment before she jerked her head to look away before he slowly drew his hand, and bottle, away from her "I don't she expected her friend to have a dark side," he said.

"That's her being fuckin' naïve then," Jack said as she suddenly slipped out of the stool, moving towards the door, leaving him alone before he could get a single word out.

He just side as he pressed his hands against either side of the bottle, pressing his forehead against the top. His hand still tingling with the sensation of her hand on his, and for the briefest moment, he didn't feel so alone in the universe.

He never could find the 'first bottle' she went through before he woke up.

* * *

She kept rubbing her palms together as she left Daemons room, more flustered, pissed off, _whatever_ she was then when she went into that damned room. She thought that she could just go up into his room, grab a few bottles, go back down stairs and get completely shit faced instead of thinking of that hell hole that was the first part of her life. Instead she ended up just…_sitting there_ like some weird creeper from the vids watching him sleep. At the start he looked peaceful, the hidden burdens he kept to himself were just gone and she couldn't help but feel some type of calmness fill her watching his muscled chest rise up and down. Then he started to turn. At first she thought he was waking up, but then it seemed like what she imagined she did when she found some way to sleep, tossing and turning as she tried to fight off the shadows of her past before they inevitably won, causing her to wake up in a mess of tears and sweat. When his eyes opened she saw brightness in his eyes as if relieved that his nightmare was over, but when he looked at the window a look of disappointment and burdens piled onto him and those brilliant green eyes turned dark.

She walked into the elevator, slumping back against the cold metal as she looked down at her hand before she suddenly kicked at the elevator panel to take her to…wherever the fuck she hit out of pure frustration. Just when she thought she had calmed down, she had to touch his _fucking_ hand. It made her blush. _Her _blush, a badass that had to be cryogenically frozen in stasis to keep from destroying an entire prison facility and touching some guys hand made her cheeks blush like some _school girl_. It confused her, and what confused her, pissed her off. "You're not going through this…" She said as she hit the back of her head against the wall, "not fucking again." The last time she started to blush, to start feeling…confused, was back with him, that _bastard_ that had to go get himself killed for her. _"I didn't ask you to die for me you _fucker_!" _She shouted in her head before she just slid down onto her ass, curling up into a ball, staring at her hands.

The elevator door dinged revealing not the engineer deck, but the CIC level. She quickly got up and brushed herself off before that 'loving' red head secretary came up to her saying "Good afternoon Jack, joining the Commander on her recruitment?"

She stared at the woman for a moment before she could slip back into her pissed off mood, "No I'm joining fucking green eyes and the bubble head," she snapped before she started to walk towards the armory as if she was going to gear up leaving Kelly to just stare after in a confused state.

* * *

_Two Hours later…_

Shepard sat staring out a car window as their contact; an asari that used to work for Nassana brought them to the partially built second tower of the 'Dantius Towers'. After spending a few minutes asking about the lay out and possible opponents she slipped into darker thoughts, mostly about Liara.

"Shepard what's wrong?" Garrus asked from the back seat, leaning forward grasping the corner of her chair.

She didn't bother trying to hide it from him, Garrus had a way of telling when she was upset or not. "I wonder if it was wrong of me to not help Liara to find her 'Observer'" she admitted, looking over her shoulder at the turian. Mordin was being surprisingly silent for a change, not injecting into the conversation, but she had a feeling that that computer like brain of his was studying them with that innocent look on his face.

"You are helping her, by having Tali and the Colonel find the Observer," Garrus said.

"More like being a coward…I just couldn't handle seeing Liara like she is…so dark…so…obsessed, what happened to the Liara we used to know?" She asked, glancing back out the window, seeing the towers coming into view.

"Two years is a long time Shepard, whatever this Broker did to her must have been bad if she is so intent on him," he said.

"What about you Garrus?" She asked, turning her head back to him, "Did what happen to Sidonis change you?"

Garrus stayed silent at that, leaning back into his chair as his mandibles twitched some as if in thought, "I don't know," he said, repeating himself from the first time they talked about this.

Shepard looked at him for a long moment, Garrus was one of the few people she trusted in this galaxy, her sanctuary in a place where things were not what they used to be. If she lost that, if she lost the Garrus she knew…she didn't know if she would be able to keep on fighting. She felt the vehicle shift as it landed on the platform, door opening with a hiss, she closed her eyes for a moment, focusing in before she grasped her rifle, "Let's do this," she said.

* * *

Daemon was starting to wonder if he was being followed, or just getting paranoid. From the moment he stepped onto Illium he felt as if there were eyes boring holes in the back of his head. Leaning against a terminal watching the mixture of asari and other aliens walking past, to his chagrin when he felt as if he was being watched he remembered one reason he didn't like Illium. And that was the chance of him being abducted to be turned into asari gumbo. He had forgotten it after the accident with the calamari gumbo, more than likely suppressing it to ignore the fact he had eaten _then _threw up a human being. The fact that Gardener had cooked it, and that Shepard _and_ Joker ate it just confirmed to him that in one hundred seventy years, humans didn't care what they ate as long as it tasted good. The thought made him almost turn as green as the leather jacket he wore, unzipped. While Shepard said there was no need to gear up, he had picked up a pistol on the way out, resting in a holster connected to his belt.

The only two other comforts he had was Tali hacking away at the terminal near him, and Jack, who seemed to have chosen to come on her on accord, leaning on the same terminal he was on to his left. He wouldn't deny that he missed her presence the first time he explored Illium, and especially after finding out about the asari's darker secrets from Joker.

"What are Rangers?" Jack suddenly asked.

"Huh?" He asked rather stupidly, looking over at her.

She just perked her brow up at him, pointing at the Ranger tab stitched to his left shoulder, the look on her face making him feel rather stupid.

"It was…a group I was part of, government owned," He said, not lying, but not exactly saying everything.

"Never heard of them in Alliance space," She said, giving him a curious glance.

He pressed his lips together in thought, wondering if he could keep avoiding her questions enough to satisfy her. Again luck was on his side though, since Tali called out, "I got it."

He joined the quarian at her terminal, standing next to her as he read the bit of a message. It read: _"…trader tried to kill the batarian. Claims it was because he hates slavers, but the men were more likely fighting over money. Watch for now…"_

"Not much to go on," He said after reading it, letting Tali upload it onto her omni-tool, since he hadn't mastered that yet.

"I'd just fucking kill all of them," Jack said crossing her arms, "insurance that you got the right one."

"I doubt they all meet up in one place for that to even happen Jack and we're trying to avoid a lot of bloodshed," Tali said as she closed the screen.

"Let's just keep looking," Daemon said, heading to their next data point hoping to avoid any more pokes into his past from Jack.

* * *

Shepard was starting to see the evil the Eclipse were capable of as they worked their way through the tower. After clearing the first area they ran into a wounded salarian that told them how Nassana had the mercs 'remove' the workers presence from the building, sending mechs and dogs on them, killing without remorse. She slathered medi-gel over the wound to help sustain him until help arrived, of course Mordin couldn't help but give his own medical advice along with her attentions. Motivated more than ever to reach Nassana and find the assassin they moved quickly through the tower, dropping any merc that was dumb enough to get in her way. They moved up a ramp, the door opening before them as she heard the echo of voices coming from a vent above.

"I think he went in there," a male voice said.

"Well go get him," a female voice ordered.

"You go," the male voice said, indignant.

"Just get your ass in there," the woman said annoyed, "Nassana isn't paying you to screw around."

"Fine," the man said, "But I—"

The man's voice was suddenly cut off by the sound of grunts, and sounds of fists smacking against something hard. Silence ensued before a man came crashing down the vent, dead in front of them.

"Well at least we know the assassin is nearby," Garrus said.

Mordin had gone over to the body, bending down as he scanned it with his omni-tool, looking at the screen, "Broken neck, no signs of self-defense, quick and professional, assassin skilled in hand-to-hand combat."

"Enough chatter," She said, hefting up her rifle "let's see if we can catch up to him before Nassana's mercs do."

* * *

"This is more like it," Jack said as Daemon and her sat at the bar counter in the 'Eternity' club. Not as dark and pulsing with malice as Omega, but they still seemed to be able to fit in an asari dancer or two.

Tali stood a bit behind them, working on hacking a terminal as discreetly as possible, Daemon sitting in a spot just blocking the bartenders view. "You like clubs then I take it," He said.

"This is more of a bar then anything with an asari hooker or two forced in to draw the poor bastards in," Jack said, "but I haven't had the chance to dance to some catchy beat in a while, being locked in a fucking ice cube has a way of hindering that."

"_Draw the poor bastards in eh…?" _He thought to himself, maybe that's why there were so many asari dancers, lead a man away for a bit, then _wham_ take them away for mating season or calamari gumbo…tricky. "I used to know how to dance," He said, glancing over his shoulder just slightly to see how Tali was progressing before looking back over at Jack.

"Really," she said sounding half interested, half uninterested, "Maybe we'll see if you remember anything one of these days," her face turning away from his as she said that.

He stared at the back of her head for a long moment, was that an offer to dance with her? "I would like that," he said.

Jack said nothing to that, staying silent before she glanced over her shoulder, jerking her head to the side before slipping off the bar stool.

His eyes followed her, seeing that Tali was no longer there. Standing up he followed after her, finding Tali standing outside of the bar. "What did we get this time?" He asked.

"Got a complete sentences this time at least," Tali said, holding up her omni-tool, a screen appearing as words filled in the orange space, reading: _"Smuggler and assassin have refused to work with vorcha due to lack of trust. Odd to see scruples from the men at this point."_

"Still nothing on who the Observer is…" He murmured. He remembered back in highschool his math teacher giving them little brain teasers that involved either five or more people, and you had to figure out either who was the oldest and what they did or so on and so forth. In the end you had to use small hints to figure out who was which, using process of elimination. So far he wasn't able to select which one had the Observer occupation, but he was able to figure out the vorcha wasn't the observer, nor was the smuggler or assassin, but neither was the vorcha either occupation. It was a start. For a moment he felt those eyes bearing down on him again, unfriendly eyes…he was starting to feel that he wasn't being paranoid, "Let's just head to the next data point…" he nodded his head for Tali to lead them to the next point.

* * *

"Come to mama," Shepard said as she bent down, picking up what seemed to be a discarded sniper rifle, different from what their armory had right now.

"That's an S-97b Viper sniper rifle," Garrus said, "It allows more shots before you have to reload, but it doesn't have the same _kick_ I like with the Mantis."

"With a few upgrades it could have something close to it though," Shepard said, scanning it for its parts and blue prints, setting it in her now empty sniper rifle holster. Looking down at the Mantis rifle in her hand she set it down, stomping on it _hard_ bending the barrel to a point of uselessness if she was going to drop a gun, might as well make it so no one else could use it.

"The horror…" He gasped, hugging his own Mantis rifle to his chest as one hand raised up dramatically to his forehead as if he was about to faint in one of those old vids.

"I'll make it up to you," She said, walking past him, comfortingly patting his shoulder.

"Shepard, elevator is descending," Mordin said, pointing over at the elevator, "Chance of enemy forces high."

"Get behind cover," She ordered, "Garrus, concussive round, knock them on their ass, Mordin, use your incinerate to cook them, then open fire."

Everyone got into place, Shepard taking the container closest to the door, holding her rifle up as she waited….and waited. Before the door suddenly 'dinged' opening to reveal two troopers and a krogan, until they were knocked back, the krogan flailing as he was set ablaze.

* * *

"We're going in circles now dammit," Jack cursed as she leaned against a terminal, back at the market area.

Daemon crossed his arms as he said nothing to her comment; instead more often than not his eyes kept glancing around surreptitiously, looking for whoever was watching him. _"Not going to become calamari gumbo, damned if I let that happen,"_ He thought to himself.

"I'm going where my omni-tool tells me to go, I can't help that it's in a circle," Tali said as she worked at the terminal, though it was obvious she was a bit annoyed at the running around as Jack was.

"Fuck it, let me know when we can stop chasing our asses," she pushed herself off, walking away to near one of the terminals they hacked before.

He moved over to Tali, but his eyes never left Jack as he asked barely moving his lips, "You have a feeling we're being watched?"

To her credit she didn't stop and look around, instead she just kept working, "I've felt as if someone was watching us, just not me specifically," she said.

"I think they are watching me…" he said, turning his head side to side slowly.

"What makes you think that?" Tali asked from the looks of things she was almost done hacking the terminal.

"Something Joker told me," He said, looking back over at Jack again, she seemed to have started to browse the shot gun selections at one terminal; he'd keep a note on that.

Before she could no doubt ask what that was, the terminal suddenly beeped, a orange screen popping up with text that read: _"The turian's asking too many questions. Observer recommends terminating him and framing assassin or salarian contact."_

"Not the turian, salarian, batarian, or the vorcha it seems," He said after reading the message.

"That just leaves the krogan," Tali said, uploading the data onto her omni-tool. "Should we contact Liara and tell her?" She asked.

He reached up, rubbing the side of his head as he worked it all in his head, none of the other aliens can be the Observer it _seemed_, but he wasn't about to get the wrong person killed because they didn't get every bit of info possible. "Let's find more information before we do that," he said, "Where's the next data point?"

Tali glanced down at her omni-tool, tapping at it for a moment before she just stared at it, before looking over at the terminal Jack was at. She looked over at him.

"…I'll go first," he said, walking over to the terminal.

* * *

"I smell like burnt krogan," Garrus sighed.

"It's an improvement for your usual smell," Shepard said, walking towards the terminal where a frantic Nassana was shouting 'Come in damnit!'

After going up the elevator and interrogating an eclipse merc, and by interrogate she shoved him through the window, hanging him from a ledge until he talked; they cleared the next room and ran into a group of salarians. After hearing how the assassin saved them from the merc about to kill them, she knew they were close to catching up to him.

Shepard went up to the comm terminal, pressing a button, hearing Nassana's voice once again "Finally, what the hell is going on down there?"

"We're sorry, but they can't reach you right now, leave your name and number and…well they won't be getting back to you since they're dead," Shepard said cheerfully into the comm.

Nassana must have had a good memory as she recognized the voice "Commander Shepard…damn it!" the comm suddenly cut off.

"From vocal response, stress levels are high," Mordin said, tapping his bottom lip "may do something drastic."

"She'll make a mistake then," Garrus said.

"And we'll be there when she does, let's finish this," Shepard said, running up the ramp.

* * *

"_Turian contact working well with trader. Observer has rescinded kill order against him, given difficulty in securing contact with the trader through other methods."_

That was the fourth text they got from hacking the terminals, hardly helpful in Daemons eyes, but he wasn't about to give up yet. "Let's find one more data point, then make our decision," He said.

"Why are we fucking around?" Jack groaned, "It's obviously the krogan, call the blue bitch up and have her waste his ass already."

"We have to be absolutely sure, otherwise all of this would be for nothing," Tali said, tapping at her omni-tool, looking for the last point.

Jack just grumbled, no doubt she'd rather be looking at shotguns then hacking at terminals. Daemon looked at her for a long moment before he said, "You could head back to the ship Jack, Tali and I can handle the rest."

Her head jerked up to look at him as if that thought hadn't occurred to her; looking away she crossed her arms, "Not getting rid of me that easily fucker."

A smile grew on his lips as he looked at her, when she glanced at him she turned completely around, "One more Jack, promise" he said.

"It's right near Liara's office," Tali said, pointing over to her office.

"Well then, let's finish this," He said, walking right over.

* * *

"Irony abounds doesn't it Nassana?" Shepard asked as she entered the pent house, having no concern whatsoever of her guards pointing weapons at them. "You have me kill your sister two years ago, now I am."

"Who hired you to kill me," the asari hissed, she was sweating profusely obviously she was a bit of a nervous wreck, "How much?"

She heard the sound of the vent above her bend with a sudden weight; Nassana's mercs heard it too, rising the weapons, looking around frantically. "What?" Nassana spat, at one of her mercs.

"I heard something," an asari merc said.

"Damn it!" Nassana cursed, waving her arm "Check the other entrances!"

The asari moved away from Nassana, leaving two mercs behind her.

"Money isn't going to make this little problem go away," Shepard said, crossing her arms.

"Screw you," Nassana said, "After I deal with this-"

A moment later a figure drops from the vent, snapping the neck of one guard, smoothly crushing the throat of another with one punch, shooting the asari merc in the chest before blocking Nassana's gun arm, pressing his pistol against the womans stomach, staring into her eyes before pulling the trigger. All in the matter of seconds. The drell assassin slowly eased the woman onto the table, crossing her hands over her chest before he bowed his head, clasping his hands together in what seemed like….prayer?

Shepard was too stunned at the sudden and impressive entrance to say anything for a moment before she looked over at Garrus asking "You time that?"

"Happened too quickly…" Garrus said just as stunned as she was.

"Six seconds rounded up," Mordin said, tapping his omni-tool.

"Thanks Mordin," She said before she walked towards the drell, who still seemed to be in prayer. "I've been looking for you," She said.

He didn't say anything at first, still in prayer before a deep throaty voice came from him, "I apologize," he said, "but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."

"You really think this piece of dirt deserves to be prayed for?" she asked surprised.

"Not for her," he said, looking up at them with black eyes, "For me."

"_Well…that's a surprise," _She thought, not expecting piousness to come from an assassin.

"I must admit I'm impressed how far you went to find me, all this destruction, chaos…you said you've been looking for me…well…here I am," He said.

"I want your help," She said, "a race called the Collectors have been abduction human colonies, we're going to take them down."

He turned away from them, staying silent for a moment before he said, "I'm aware of their existence, to attack them you'd have to pass through the Omega 4 relay, considered impossible."

"I've been told many things were impossible," Shepard said, walking over to his side.

"Fair enough," the drell said, "You have a reputation for doing the impossible." He closed his eyes, his hands slipping behind his back, standing so perfectly straight, "I was to retire after this…I'm dying…impossible odds do not bother me, the Collectors abducting your colonists does."

She blinked her eyes rapidly at that before she looked down, "I'm sorry, is there anything we can do for you?"

"There's nothing that can be done, it's not contagious, and will not burden my work, and giving me this chance is enough." He turned towards her, holding his hand out saying, "I accept the contract, no charge."

She looked down at his hand, shaking it firmly without another thought, "Alright then let's-" she started before she was interrupted.

Tali's voice suddenly appeared in her head, _"Shepard, we've got a problem!" _the quarian sounding breathless, rushed, and was that Jack cursing in the back ground?

"Tali, what's wrong?" She asked, already running towards the door.

"_Liara's secretary is the Observer, she attacked her and now-" _ Tali started to say before loud sound cut her off.

"We're on our way damn it!" She cursed as she burst into a run, drell, turian, and salarian right behind her.

* * *

_A few moments earlier…_

"I've almost…got it!" Tali said tapping at her omin-tool before a screen popped up in the terminal.

"Good work Tali," Daemon said, moving next to her to look at the text.

"Can we mug a few soft rich pricks after this?" Jack asked, moving onto the other side of Tali.

"….Jack," He started.

"Just thinking out loud," she said.

He just shook his head for a moment before getting back to the text which read: _"Vorcha trader has requested no further contact with salarian. Salarian is becoming more trouble than he is worth. Observer recommends a kill, but she may have a grudge."_

"…She?" Tali said in surprise.

"The Observer is a chick?" Jack was shocked as well.

"It could still be the krogan," he said, looking at the text again…he raised his head up, Jack staring at him. "…What?" He asked.

"Wrex, a krogan friend of ours once said that krogan females were kept in camps back on their homeworld, I've never seen a female krogan before," Tali explained.

"Me either, and I've seen plenty of shit," Jack said.

"…If that is the case then none of these choices make sense," He said thinking back to the other text, all of them called the aliens male. This was the first mention of a female, someone was missing from all this.

"Liara is on the line," Tali said, reaching up, touching the side of her helmet before she tapped her omni-tool.

After a moment the asari's voice came out of Tali's omni-tool, "Have you found anything?" she asked.

Daemon took a step closer to Tali's omni-tool saying, "None of the people here fit the description of the Observer, who gave you this information?"

Liara's voice sounded confused, "That's not possible, Nyxeris gave me this information…" her voice sounded as if it was coming to a revelation before a cry and the sound of something crashing cut her off.

"Move it!" he shouted, running up the stairs, seeing the secretary desk absent, and the door to Liara's office locked, "Tali can you get this door open?"

The quarian was only one step behind him when he made it to the door, opening up her omni-tool her three fingers really started to fly. What seemed like hours only took a few seconds the door opened wide; Jack was right behind him, the blue glow of biotics coming from her body, a look of excitement crossing her face when the door opened. Daemon ran in first reaching he grasped his pistol, suddenly hearing the door slam shut behind him. His pistol suddenly jerked out of his hand into the waiting grip of Liara's secretary, Nyxeris. In the few short moments after Liara was cut off, her office became a wreck, her desk smashed, the window cracked, and the asari herself was on the ground with a gash on her head, but he caught the sight of her chest moving, she was alive, for now.

"So very clever Mr. Heraldson," Nyxeris said in that same tone as he first heard her in, now absolutely sure it was sarcastic now, "Those years in that primitive cyro tank didn't harm your head any it seems."

A tingle went down his spine at those words, "How do you know that," he asked, his fingers twitching some as he figured out how to reach this woman.

"The Shadow Broker knows a lot about you Mr. Heraldson, more then you know," She said, pointing the gun straight at his chest, "Shame I have to kill you, but the Broker will forgive me if I bring you and Jacks corpse to dissect."

His fingers slowly clenched as he widened his stance "The only way you'll get to Jack is over my dead body…" he murmured already knowing what was coming next.

"That's the idea," She said, suddenly pulling the trigger.

His hands shot up before the _bang_ came from the gun, the bullet rebounding off the barrier in front of him. Her eyes raised up in surprise before he turned, picking up the lamp, barrier fading as he chucked it at the asari.

Her second shot went wide from the lamp knocking her arm, her body glowing with biotics as he lunged towards her, his omni-tool glowing on his arm as the blade shot out from it, sinking into her chest. He felt her body slump against his, "Bastard…" she coughed before she gave that last exhale before death claimed her. He jerked his arm away from her, covered in asari blood, the blade slipping back into his omni-tool. Not wasting any time he rushed over to Liara, kneeling down he held his non-bloodied hand, touching the side of her face, looking closer at the wound. From what he could tell it looked worse than it actually was, but that didn't mean there wasn't any internal damage. He started to carefully dab at the wound with medi-gel before the asari started to groan, her eyes fluttering open as she shifted.

"Take it easy, you got knocked on conscious," he said, slipping an arm beneath her back, rising her up into a sitting position.

"Nyxeris snuck up on me…happened so fast…" Liara said as she raised a hand to press against the side of her head. "I can't believe the Observer was my own secretary," She said, seeming to be pulling herself together now as she looked over at him "I owe you one, Colonel."

"Let's just not let me get abducted by asari women and turned into calamari gumbo and we'll call it even," He said, slowly helping her up on her feet.

When she got on her feet she looked at him as if he said something insane, "I'm sorry…what?"

He was about to tell her everything Joker told him, but then he stopped with a realization. She had no idea what he was talking about; he'd been _pranked _by that damned pilot!

Suddenly the doors opened wide and six people came bursting in one of them he didn't recognize, all of them bristling with guns. Shepard came straight forward, looking over at him and Liara, "You both alright?" she asked.

"No," Daemon said, walking past, he suddenly felt very tired, "Joker made me think I was a cannibal." Leaving the whole group looking very…very confused.

* * *

**Authors note: So ends this latest chapter, tell me what you think of it, please review! All grammar flubs are my fault and I apologize.**


	12. Overload

Five Seconds

Chapter 12: Overload

_Authors Note: I won't even bother to try and bull shit a reason why this took so long to come out. I can only say sorry! And hope that this chapter was worth the wait, at least you know I haven't given up on this story, I plan on taking it all the way, college life willing. But as I say, back to the action!_

* * *

"You're sure?" Shepard asked again, crossing her arms, standing across from Daemon and Doctor Chakwas, who was examining his ribs in the med bay.

"Nyxeris said it clearly, this Shadow Broker knows about me," Daemon said, who was sitting in a chair, hands on his legs.

After the events from yesterday, Shepard and the rest of the team checked in early, but not before Daemon met Thane first though. He was rather surprised at the assassins' personality; he thought he was going to hate someone that killed for money. However, he didn't think Thane was like that at all, he had an…aura around him, confident, but polite without vanity, cold, yet he looked like he carried a lot of guilt on his shoulders. Rather than disliking the assassin, he found he liked the drell.

"We'll have the crew sweep the ship for bugs, that's the only conceivable way they knew, Mordin seems to have a talent for finding listening devices," She said her hand rising up to brush a lock of red hair from her face.

The doctor finally rose up to her full height, looking over at Shepard saying, "His ribs are healed he's ready for action."

"Perfect, you'll come with me, Thane, and Kasumi to recruit the asari Justicar in a half hour," Shepard said, turning as she walked towards the exit.

"I'll be ready," Daemon promised as he pulled on a shirt, after that he thanked Doctor Chakwas and left the med bay.

Before gearing up he decided to go to the engineering deck first, since Jack wouldn't be joining them, he wanted to at least talk to her before they left. Stepping out onto the engineer deck he made his way past the door, but as he was walking down the steps, Jacks voice suddenly burst out.

"I don't want to talk, go away."

He stopped just before reaching the last step, there was a tension in her voice, was she…crying? "Jack?" he called out.

"I said FUCK OFF!" She shouted at him, causing him to flinch slightly at the sudden outburst.

It was clear to him any more attempts to communicate with her would do nothing more but make things worse, he turned back around, giving her space, heading straight up to CIC to gear up.

* * *

She had another nightmare last night, as she usually did when she fell asleep sober, and sometimes drinks didn't even hold them back. She was back in the hell hole of a testing facility, back in the arena.

_Concrete slabs form a barrier around her and her opponent. The weight of the collar around her neck barely noticeable by now, only the sudden jolts of electricity when she hesitated reminded her of its existence. The sounds of the kids behind the barrier jeered at her, cheering for the older boy always for the other child, never for her. The fresh jolt of electricity spurred her to run straight for the kid, screaming in pain and anger, lunging straight for him. Despite her smaller size, she knocked the older boy onto the ground, the pain of the jolt vanishing with the rush of drugs flowing through her body, causing her to tingle from head to toe. Her eyes started to grow hazy from the euphoria, her small fist rising up to strike at the boy when her eyes cleared for just one moment. She looked into the boys eyes glistening with tears, asking the one question she always asked herself…why? Why is this happening? What did I do wrong? Her hand trembled, showing the hesitation she was feeling before the pain lanced down her body over and over again, punishment for her weakness, her hesitation until the pain became too much, sinking her into unconsciousness. An all too short respite from the reality she knew all too well she was going to wake up in hell._

She had woken up, feeling something wet sliding down her cheeks, raising her hand up, she brushed against it, bringing her hand to her eye she saw the salty tear slide down her skin. She felt her eyes' welling up again, that's when she heard someone coming down. It could only be one person, Daemon, and he out of everyone she didn't want to see her being so pathetic, so weak. For a moment she thought he was going to press the issue, and that she'd have to throw him to the ground, instead she heard his footsteps fade without another word.

She still didn't understand the confusion she had when it came to him, she felt a sense of…warmth when around him. That warmth frightened her, and what frightened her pissed her off, so Daemon made her feel warm, frightened, _and_ pissed off, hence: confusion.

She also couldn't help but think back on how he always comes down here, asking about her, but when she asks a question about _him_ it turns vague. What the hell was he hiding? She wiped the back of her arm over her face brushing away the remnants tears before she sat up, it was time to snoop.

* * *

As they went in, guns holstered, an asari flew through the air in front of them, smacking into the steel wall, and after she hit the ground she didn't get up again.

After Shepard, Daemon, Thane, and Kasumi left the Normandy, it only took a few questions and a taxi to find Detective Anaya, an asari who talked to the Justicar last and allowed her to investigate a crime scene.

During all this time whenever Shepard looked at Daemon he seemed…distracted. It was clear to her that his mind was elsewhere. Whatever it was showed when she had to physically _nudge_ him to get his attention that there were Eclipse mercs nearby.

She wanted to ask him what was on his mind, but they didn't have the time to waste, holstering her weapon she moved towards the door where the mercs planned on barging through, watching the door open before them. That is when the asari merc slammed into the metal wall. After that she couldn't see them, but she heard voices.

"Those were my best troops…" one female voice said in a stunned tone.

She then heard another voice, soft in volume, but the tone was anything but, "Tell me what I need to know, and I will be gone from here…where did you send her?"

The stunned voice turned to disbelief, "You think I'd betray her? She would hurt me in more ways than you can imagine."

The other voice didn't take that very well, "The name of the ship, your life hangs on the answer Lieutenant."

What the Lieutenant said next surprised her slightly, for a mercenary she didn't fold to save her life, "You can kill me," she said, "but one of us will take you _down_ Justicar!"

Barely a second later there came a loud crash of glass as an asari in Eclipse armor flew from the second level, smacking into the ground. A woman in red armor, glowing with biotics, glided down right in front of the Lieutenant.

The merc crawled backwards, unarmed, trying to get away from the Justicar, but it was too late, the woman walked over with an disturbingly calm stride before placing her high heeled boot against the woman's neck. "What was the name of the ship she left on?" the Justicar asked in that same tone.

The Eclipse merc must have been having trouble breathing since it took her a few moments to say what she assumed were her last words "Go…hnnngh…to hell."

The Justicar's face did not change, instead she said, "Find peace in the embrace of the goddess," before the all too familiar sound of a neck being snapped came from beneath her boot.

Silence filled the air for a moment before Shepard took a step forward towards the Justicar, not a moment later she heard the footsteps of her crew right behind her.

The Justicar finally raised her head up, turning to look at them. She pulled her boot away from the asari, moving towards them, "My name is Samara" she said, "a servant of the Justicar Code, my quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see four well-armed people before me." She stopped in front of Shepard her eyes piercing as she asked "Are we friend? Or foe?"

Shepard didn't turn away from the Justicar's gaze, instead of answering the asari's question she asked one of her own, "That asari was wounded and didn't stand a chance, do you just kill anyone that doesn't help you?"

"If my cause is important enough, yes," she said, her head tilting just slightly "Are you different?"

"I won't hesitate to kill, but only for a good reason," Shepard crossed her arms.

"I answer to a code clearly defined," Samara replied, "If my actions are true to that code, I am just, if not, I am unjust, I don't pretend that it is a simple matter, or that it seems right to everyone, but I sleep well at night, not everyone can say as much."

Samara seemed to not need an answer to her 'friend or foe' question since she next asked, "How may I be of service?"

Shepard uncrossed her arms as she said "I'm going up against suicidal odds, I need the best, that's you."

She felt the Justicar stare into her own eyes, as if gauging her honesty, "I sense truth in what you say," she said finally, "It humbles me…however I seek an incredibly dangerous fugitive." Samara turned away, placing her back to them as she looked up, "The Eclipse sisters smuggled her off world, I must find the name of the ship before the trail goes cold."

"I wish you were willing to go with the human Justicar," Detective Anaya's voice came in from behind Shepard, turning her head she saw the detective standing near Daemon. "I've been ordered to take you into custody if you won't leave," she said.

As the Detective talked, Samara had turned, moving towards her as Anaya did the same, "You risk a great deal by following your orders Detective," she said, "Fortunately, I will not have to resist, my code obligates me to comply for twenty-four hours, after that, I cannot be delayed further."

"I won't be able to let you go so soon."

"You won't be able to stop me," After those words the tension started to fill the room as the Justicar and Detective stared at each other.

The solution to this little problem seemed clear to Shepard, "We'll get you the name of the ship while you're in custody of the Detective, if that will get you to help us."

"I would be grateful to you, and yes, I will join you, if I stay I will be forced to kill many innocents to escape incarceration."

"Like me," Anaya muttered softly.

"I might get killed, if I go with you, I may continue my investigation," Samara said before she walked past Shepard, standing next to the Detective, "Speak with Pitne For, a volus merchant, he's tied to this, the Eclipse are trying to kill him…Thank you Shepard."

After the Detective and Samara left Shepard turned to leave the crime scene as well "Let's go talk to this merchant," she said.

"Wait, Commander," Daemons voice came up, stopping Shepard in her movement, with the brief action and dealing with the Justicar, Shepard had forgot that Daemon was distracted with something.

Turning to face him she could see that he was about to share, "What's wrong Daemon?" she asked.

The Colonel glanced over at the door where Samara and Anaya had left before looking back at her "Are we sure we want this Justicar with us?"

"We need the best Colonel, and she is one of them," Shepard responded, placing a hand on her hip the Justicar wasn't what was bothering him was it?

"Permission to be frank ma'am?" He asked.

"Please do," She replied.

"With all due respect Commander," he started, "How do we know that she isn't going to harm anyone on the ship? Not everyone on board has a clean record…" he nodded his head over at Kasumi, and Thane as if it were an afterthought motion.

Her lips parted for a moment, about to respond before she thought about it. In a way he had a point, Kasumi was a thief, no doubt she had broken a _lot_ of laws, and God knows how many people Thane had killed. While a problem it wouldn't have him _this_ distracted…unless…"Daemon," she said, "You're worried about Jack aren't you?"

She had to give Daemon credit for not showing much of a reaction to her question, a twitch of a brow was all she got from him before he said, "My concern is for the crew as a whole Commander."

"It's alright you can admit it," Kasumi said in a sly tone, sliding over to him as she tapped at his shoulder plate, "Our little tattooed convict was on your mind wasn't she?"

"We'll deal with that small detail when we have the time," Shepard cut in, "Now let's find that merchant," she said before walking towards the door.

* * *

Jack sat alone at the table on the crew deck, picking at her food, her pissed off aura no doubt scaring any one away from trying to sit with her. That damned salarian was apparently searching the ship for bugs, and at this opportune time he decided to search Daemons room. She'd been sitting there for over an hour until the cook carefully asked her if she wanted to eat something. She figured she might as well, and to be honest, the food didn't taste as shitty as she first remembered. Still she picked at her food, trying to draw it out when she heard those two damned engineers coming from the elevator, at times she could hear them talking and they _never_ shut up.

"I heard that Gardner is making real food now," Gabby said.

"Yeah right," the Scottish accented engineer said, "He couldn't make a good haggis if his life depended on it."

"But all haggis tastes like ass."

"Yeah, but in the right hands it can taste like mighty fine ass."

The two of them were so busy that she doubted that they noticed her at the table, walking over to Gardner. She heard them order their food, waiting by the counter, at first she thought they were going to continue talking about fucking haggis, but then Gabby started talking about _her._

"You hear Jack shouting earlier?"

"The crazy woman? Yeah I thought she was going to kill someone."

"She must have been shouting at the Colonel," Gabby said.

"I don't get why he keeps going down to see her, he must talk to other people like Kasumi, he does share a bloody room with her the lucky bastard," Kenneth said shaking his head.

"I doubt he's like that Kenneth."

"I don't know, they say he hardly leaves that place, and no one ever sees Kasumi except in that room, wouldn't be surprised if after all those years he'd need to…unload the ammunition."

Jack's fingers pinched at the rim of her plate harder and harder as she listened, she knew that he shared a room with the thief, but she never thought about it. Was he sleeping with Kasumi? If he is, what does he keep coming down to her, is he trying to score with her?

Gabby's voice broke her trail of thought, "If he had no morals like you, yeah, but I heard that-"

She was interrupted as Miranda burst out of her office, Garrus came running out of the battery as well.

"Get the ship ready," She said.

"I'm coming with," Garrus said, whatever memo Miranda got the turian must have got as well.

"What the fuck is going on?" Jack stood up, neither the turian nor Miranda stopped to respond, but it was obvious there was a sense of emergency from their movement. She ignored the shocked sounds of Kenneth and Gabby, not even noticing she was sitting at the table to begin with, cursing as she ran into the elevator.

* * *

"Be careful…_hiss…_each Eclipse sister commits murder to earn her uniform…_hiss…_they are all dangerous," the volus said as he handed Shepard his copied pass key to the Eclipse base.

It didn't take long for them to find the volus Pitne For, he was standing by a bunch of containers by the police office, looking at a data pad. Daemon was trying to keep focused; out on the field it was more important than ever to stay sharp. However from time to time when Shepard was grilling the volus he kept thinking about Samara.

From the start of hearing everything about Samara and her reaction to criminal activity, it had bothered him more than he expected. At first he didn't understand it, criminals deserved to be punished, yes the asari's punishment was harsh and they deserved a trial, but those men and women made their choice, so why did it bother him so much?

At first he assumed it was because half their crew practically had shady pasts, Kasumi and Thane were fine examples, but he didn't think they were _bad_ people, he didn't get that vibe from them, and anything to disrupt the mission was reason for concern. However, when Shepard brought up Jack it shocked him, was that really what had him worried? The more he thought about it the more he had to admit that Jack being hurt concerned him more than the mission did.

He zoned back in as the volus mentioned smuggling in a toxic chemical that boosts biotic power called Minagen X3, obviously illegal and dangerous. No surprise to him the Eclipse didn't appreciate their members dying from the chemical and wanted the volus dead.

The volus admitted to having a copy to get into the base, and all it took was a look from Shepard and cracking knuckles to get him to hand it over, giving the warning about the Eclipse sisters.

"Never took an elevator to a hostile base," Daemon said as they walked away from the volus and towards the elevator.

"I imagine you've done a lot of things lately you thought you'd never do," Shepard replied as they stepped in, the doors closing behind the group before it started to descend.

He didn't say anything to that, for one it was true, but secondly his mind started to wander again into the past.

_His hands felt the weight of the rifle as he pulled it from his shoulder. In the day light they would have been cooking in the sun, but instead they were under the chilly rays of the moonlight. He liked the cold, was born during the winter, but that was home, there was no snow here, but sand. "Private Heraldson, you'll come in right behind me," the Sargents' voice came to him, looking straight at the man. This might have been his first mission, but he already owed that man a lot and he was more than willing to be in the front. He nodded his head once, positioning himself right next to his African-American leader and friend. His eyes looking around at the others, did they feel nervous? They didn't look it; he certainly hoped he didn't look it though he felt tension in every fiber of his being. He took a deep breath, holding it, there was no going back, not after he committed himself to this, not after…He shook his head, he can't let himself get distracted, especially as the Sergeant was already opening the door. He reached up, turning night vision on as he followed right behind the Sergeant, taking only a few steps in when he felt that tingle on the back of his neck. "Five…" he started to count down in his head, rifle rising._

"Colonel?" Shepard's voice brought him back to the present, his head jerking slightly as he felt a moment of disorientation, the memory feeling so vivid he almost felt the tingle on the back of his neck…

His eyes widened before his hand reached back, grasping his pistol, pulling it out, the door just starting to open revealing two asari in Eclipse armor, rifles raised. He was already pulling the trigger before the elevator opened all the way, dropping one before she could get a shot off. The last asari standing didn't even have the chance to look shocked before another gun went off just a second later, a bullet hole appearing between her eyes before falling back limply to the ground.

Daemon gave a quick glance and nod at Thane, the drell holding his gun in hand giving a quick nod back, before he moved out, looking side to side before moving over to the door.

"Impressive reaction time," Kasumi said as she and Shepard joined him, both having drawn their appropriate guns "That could have ended badly".

"Yet again you seem to be one step ahead Colonel," Shepard added, staring at Daemon, moving close to him. He knew she saw him draw the gun before he could even see the mercenaries, from the look in her eyes she was past coincidence now.

"As they tried to be," he pointed out, delaying the questions as he nodded at the two dead Eclipse sisters, "They must have known we were coming, we have to assume they're ready for us."

Shepard's eyes narrowed just slightly, but he knew she knew now wasn't the time, she looked over at Thane and Kasumi, giving her orders "Daemon and I will go in first, Thane you're on sniper duty, Kasumi stick close to us and short out any mechs they have."

Kasumi and Thane nodded once, the thief moving behind him as Thane slipped smoothly behind Shepard. Shepard's eyes moved around at them for a moment before her hand reached out, opening the door, gunshots greeting them all too quickly.

The dock was littered with metal boxes and red tanks, the containers all too obviously set up as barriers for the Eclipse sisters to hide behind. However, despite the sisters' efforts the team advanced at a steady pace, him and Shepard taking the brunt of the fire as Thane picked off targets coming through the door on the other side.

It didn't take long for them to clear the area, pressing on into the next room. After looking around he thought that there was no one nearby, but as they walked past a door he heard a whimper, "Oh Goddess! Oh Goddess! Don't let them find me, if they find me don't let them kill me, why am I here?"

He looked over at Shepard; she nodded her head, opening the door he and she entered slowly. From their point of view he could only see a blue screen with words rising up and disappearing out of frame. When he looked down however, he saw the gun on the ground, just by the corner of the contraption projecting the screen. Slowly he raised his gun up, putting as much space as he could between the projector and him; finally he saw more of the room, and the asari cowering behind the corner.

"Wait stop!" she cried out, standing up slowly as she held her hands up "I didn't fire my weapon once, I pretended to shoot because the other Eclipse sisters were watching, but I didn't really shoot!"

Daemon didn't relax however, keeping his gun trained on her, Shepard doing the same, "I don't trust anyone wearing the enemies uniform," He said "Turn around, I want to see if you're unarmed."

The asari didn't do as he instructed, instead she insisted, "I'm not one of them! I'm new, I thought being 'Elnora the mercenary' would be cool, I didn't know what they were like." Elnora's hand twitched, at that moment he felt the tingle on the back of his neck, but it wasn't her that was going to hurt someone.

"If you want to live don't do it" he said quickly causing Elnora to stop in her movement, her eyes widening with surprise before she looked down at the ground.

Shepard's eyes looked at him again for a moment before she looked at the asari, "It doesn't matter what you say Elnora, you're wearing the uniform, only Eclipse sisters that have committed murder earn the uniform, and if what you say is true and you're new then I think we found who killed the volus merchant."

Elnora's head snapped up, looking right at Shepard in shock before her eyes narrowed into slits, "Screw you," she said. He didn't need the tingling sensation to see what was coming next, just as the asari's hand reached back he held his hand up, his biotics pushing Elnora causing her to fall, hitting her head against the projector before slumping down.

Daemon exhaled softly as the blue fire like glow vanished from his body, it still felt odd using biotics, not to mention he could feel the drain on his energy. He had come a bit from picking up boxes, but he had a long way to go.

Shepard knelt down next to the asari, holding up her omni-tool, looking at the screen before bringing it back down, "Unconscious," she said standing up "We'll let the Detective pick her up when we're through."

The group nodded, turning as they left the room, Kasumi hacked the door, locking it from the outside incase the asari woke up early. "Do you really think she killed the volus?" the thief asked as they walked up the stairs to their right.

"It fits if she was telling the truth that she was new," Daemon said, "Not to mention her reaction, but it's nothing the Detective could use."

"We'll see if we run across anything that ties her to the murder," Shepard said as they reached the end of the stair way, standing in front of the door.

After that everyone got their weapons ready, Shepard opening the door as the Eclipse ducked behind cover. The fighting became constant then on, only having short breaks between climbing the steps and picking up clips. With the constant fighting going on now Daemon noticed a few things about their group.

The fact of the matter was that it didn't feel smooth. There wasn't a weak link in the chain per say, but the problem was that there was no familiarity. Daemon had fought beside Shepard a few times already, so he knew what to expect from her sometimes. However, he'd never fought with Kasumi. At times when he looked over she was gone. He'd look around; see an Eclipse mercenary fall over for no reason, and then when he looked to his right there was Kasumi popping up in front of his eyes. It seemed that she had some kind of cloaking device to make herself invisible for however long it lasted. While he thought it could come in handy on stealth missions, on an open field of a fight however, he saw it as a good way to get shot by friendly fire. Knowing where your team was vital on a mission, one person vanishes and it makes things more difficult.

When he was with Jack it wasn't hard to figure out where she was, either shouting profanity, throwing explosive waves of biotics, or right next to him when he made a charge forward. He rather missed her company, and the admittedly entertaining quips she had to say. He could tell that Shepard was missing Garrus as well.

He couldn't say much when it came to Thane, since the drell was in the back with his sniper rifle, but he saw that not having Garrus as sniper threw Shepard off a bit. At a few points when Shepard popped up from cover to shoot at her target, Daemon would see that target drop before she could fire, leaving her open to another merc that no one had targeted. He had a feeling that she and Garrus had known each other long enough to be able to know who they would go for, keeping each other covered, that was a connection deeper than just team work.

In the end it was a necessary inconvenience, for they would have to become familiar with each-others style to work as a team, perhaps they should even begin practice fights on the ship to improve the team work. They fought their way up three levels, finding less opposition on each level. After punching through one more dock they came to a room with a computer and medical station.

Curiosity took a hold of Daemon, walking over he looked at the desk, glancing around as he picked up what he recognized as a data pad. He looked at it for a moment, pressing on the screen with his finger, when a voice suddenly came out of it:

"_Well it's official, little baby Elnora is finally a full-fledged Eclipse merc! I earned my uniform when I killed that ridiculous volus up close with explosive rounds. Blew that little bastards suit right open, ha ha ha! I can't wait to see some real action, next time I go home my friends are going to be _so_ jealous!"_

"It's heartening to know that in this day and age we still have the stereotypical high school girls, even if they are aliens and psychotic," He said, turning towards Shepard as she took the data pad from him.

"Guess not as many things have changed as you thought," Shepard looked down at it, putting it away as she moved towards the door "We'll hand this to the Detective as evidence."

Daemon and the rest followed right behind her, as they passed the door he could hear the sound of engines, recognizing it from Omega "Gunship," He said, joining Shepard as she pressed her back against the wall.

"They're getting desperate," Thane said, holding his sniper rifle close, standing right behind Daemon.

Daemon slipped around Shepard, reaching into his pouch he pulled out his visor, slipping it onto his ear, feeling as it unfolded, sliding across his temple before the screen appeared in front of his eye. He looked around the corner, the visor zooming in right on the gun ship, a yellow bar appearing above the screen. "Armored," He said, pulling his head back, looking over at Shepard.

"Alright," She said, putting her rifle away, pulling out a rocket launcher. She pointed at Daemon and Thane, "You two, draw his fire, don't get shot," she said before looking at the thief "Kasumi," she started, "get close enough and see if you can hack the controls, then I'll hit him with this," She patted her rocket launcher.

Kasumi nodded her head, tapping at her omin-tool, disappearing with a fizzle of her stealth cloak. Daemon edged towards the corner, looking over his shoulder at Thane, "Split up, make him switch between targets." The drell blinked once, nodding his head as he switched from the sniper rifle to a sub-machine gun, no doubt to make himself quicker on his feet.

He took a deep breath, gripping his rifle, suddenly he dived, rolling on the ground before landing in a kneeling position, firing at the gun ship before pushing up running across the field. As he moved his neck tingled, hearing the sound as he stopped, diving away as an explosion made a crater where he was standing, his shields blocking the shrapnel as he pushed himself up, continuing to run. He heard the sound of another rocket firing, this time not at him, looking he saw Thane roll away behind a crate, unharmed by the projectile.

Gun fire erupted around his body, feeling his shields absorb the rounds, his visor warning him of imminent shield failure, turning he raised his hands up, a biotic barrier forming in front of him, bullets ricocheting off. He couldn't hold this for long, already feeling the drain, sweat forming on his brow.

Thankfully he wouldn't have to wait long, the gun ship suddenly seized, sparks coming from the engine as Kasumi shouted from her cover "Go for it!"

Shepard came around the corner, aiming her rocket as she fired. The missile flying from her weapon, striking the cockpit, flames coming from it as it fell from the sky, crashing against the edge before falling off, blowing up into pieces as it fell to the ground.

Daemon took a deep breath as he let the barrier go, wiping his brow as he looked over at Shepard, "Good shot," he said.

Shepard put her rocket launcher away, walking towards him as Kasumi and Thane joined her, "Thanks, we must be close, let's finish this."

Shepard moved past him, going towards a closed door, following right behind her as the door opened for her. The next room had no hostiles to speak of, but Shepard had found a data pad, looking at it for a moment as he, Thane, and Kasumi gathered around to see what it said.

"This looks like a shipping manifest," Shepard said, "It shows that Pitne For sold two thousand units of Minagen X3 to the Eclipse." She turned her head, looking over her shoulder at them before adding "And six hundred units of red sand."

Kasumi whistled, Thane was unreadable, and Daemon was just confused. "Red sand? Sounds like it's from Mars," he said.

"You're pretty much correct," Shepard replied, "Red sand was made on Mars by criminals from refined elemental zero, gives the user momentary biotic power amongst other effects, Mars was when humanity first discovered elemental zero, but this was long after your time."

"Then how can I be a biotic?" He asked, "We hadn't even put man on Mars back then," it was something he always wondered about, and if it had any connection to his other abilities.

"It comes from exposure to elemental zero in the womb," She said, "How you were exposed is just another mystery about you," he could see that look in her eye from before, that 'you're hiding something' look.

"That's the only mystery I'm aware of," he said plainly, lying of course, but he wasn't going to tell anyone, he'd only told one person before and she was long gone now. His chest tightened slightly beneath his armor a lot of people he knew were long gone now.

"Someone explain what's going on?" Kasumi asked, apparently noticing these little moments happening a lot between him and Shepard.

"It's nothing," Shepard said, looking at him before she put the data pad away, walking towards the next objective.

He shook his head slightly before following right behind her into hall where they came on an interesting sight. A volus was standing in front of what looked like a vending machine, oblivious to their presence apparently as Shepard stood right behind him. The volus either got what he wanted or became aware of their presence turned around and bumped into Shepard, short arms flailing as he took a few steps back, looking up and started talking in a way that made Daemon's eyebrows rise.

"_Hiss_ I am a biotic god," the volus said, his body giving off the tiniest amounts of biotics as he walked past Shepard. "I think things _hiss_ and they happen! Fear me lesser creatures, for I am biotics made flesh," the volus turned back around, giving another spark of biotics.

Daemon saw the unsteady footing, added with this crazy talk he had to assume that this volus was on the good stuff, where in the good stuff was toxic stuff, "You need help," he said to the volus.

The 'biotic god' didn't seem to like that, turning around he pointed up "_You _need help!"

"Good counter," Kasumi quipped.

The drug addled volus didn't seem to hear that as he continued, "You stand before the mightiest biotic ever!" the small being walking towards Daemon slowly, falling back a few steps when a small breeze went by. "Yes it was terrifying when the asari injected me with drugs, but it was then that I began to smell my greatness!"

"Shitting your pants can do that…" Shepard murmured, rubbing the back of her head as if saying 'oh boy'.

"They may laugh when I fall over," the volus said, finally standing in front of Daemon, "but they don't know what I know in my head, that I am amazingly powerful," he watched as the volus raised his hand up saying in what Daemon had to assume was his intimidating voice, "Fear me!"

He stared down at the volus, blinking for a moment before looking at the rest of the group. Kasumi couldn't stop snickering, Shepard seemed on the verge of annoyance, and to Thanes credit he tried to keep a straight face, but a smile kept tugging at his lips. Daemon just shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"_Hiss_…The leader of these mercenaries is right in the next room…_hiss," _The volus turned towards the door declaring, "I will toss Wasea about like a rag doll for her impudence!"

"Shepard we can't let him go, he's higher than a kite," Daemon said, looking over at the woman.

"A kite?" Thane asked with a perked brow.

"It's…something you fly around on a string, a piece of fabric with wood," He said awkwardly, he never thought he'd had to explain a kite.

The volus apparently didn't understand either, since he didn't respond to it, "I will tear her apart! _Hiss_ my biotics are unstoppable."

"Just go take a nap, we'll take care of Wasea," Shepard said.

"_Hiss_ bah!" The volus said, waving his hand as he started to walk towards the hall "I'll be drinking her biotic rich blood after I-"

Daemon slowly moved forward, nudging the volus just lightly, causing him to fall over on his face. He bent down, seeing if the high alien needed a hand, when he heard the sound of snoring. "He's out of it," he stood back up, brushing his hands together.

"So much for godhood," Shepard said, walking around the body, Kasumi right behind her, still snickering.

Daemon looked down at the volus, thinking it was better to not let him just _lay_ there; he bent down, dragging the body over, setting him up against the wall. The volus didn't even twitch from the movement, snoring all the while. Daemon saw Thane join him, looking down at the unconscious alien saying, "Sleep, and dream of bulbous women."

His eyebrow rose up slightly at the drell, with that serious face he couldn't tell if he was serious or joking. Shrugging his shoulders he nodded his head at Thane before walking quickly to join Shepard and Kasumi who were already opening the door, walking right in.

The room was filled with containers and the same red tanks that Daemon had seen before, but at the end of the room there was what looked like a desk, and an asari in purple armor with a data pad, holding a drink in her other hand like they were no threat.

The asari gulped down her drink, cringing as if it tasted disgusting or burned, putting it down along with the data pad as she said, "Everything's gone to hell since we smuggled that _filthy _creature off-world." As she spoke she started to walk around from behind the desk, as she got closure Daemon could see the red markings on her face, "First a Justicar shows up," the asari said in a lazy tone, "Now you," her body flared up with powerful biotics as she said, "At least I'll have the pleasure of turning your head into a _pulpy mass!"_ suddenly throwing one of the tanks right at them.

Shepard and Kasumi dived out of the way of the tank, Thane only moved a step back, and Daemon didn't bother to move away from the door, he knew it wouldn't hit him. What he _didn't_ expect was the red dust that exploded from the tank, covering him and Thane in the mess, some of the stuff getting into Daemons mouth as the tank exploded mid inhale. It tasted disgusting, he sputtered, looking down at himself, he didn't feel any-. His head jerked up, feeling the tingle in the back of his neck, frantically he tried to pull his armor off, but it was too late. Pain lanced through his brain, he fell to his knees, he could feel the biotics pouring off his body, but it wasn't enough, his brain felt as if molten lava was pouring through its veins, he was going to burn if he didn't get the heat away. That's when he felt like his skull was cracking before bursting open, images and voices flying in front of his eyes like a movie on fast forward.

"_We need med-evac, NOW"_

"_It's a trap!"_

"_You sold me out."_

"_He's lucky I don't think he's worth the bullet…"_

"_Fuck that!"_

"_You'll pay for that!"_

"_What the fuck do you think you're doing Daemon?!"_

"_Hello son…"_

"_Tank-Brother!"_

"_I am the very model of a…"_

"_An eye for an eye, a life for a life."_

"_Daemon is down, something is wrong with him, he's seizing!"_

The images keep flashing through his mind, but for every image came more and more agony, just when he thought he couldn't stand it anymore, it exploded, sending a scream of pure pain from his mouth before it suddenly stopped.

When he opened his eyes he saw something a white ceiling, feeling something smooth and cool on the back of his neck. He slowly turned, seeing that he was on the floor of a wide large room. Pushing himself up onto his feet, it looked almost like a court room, a large desk in front of a window, and humans in uniform sitting behind it, and they were talking to two people, one of them he recognized just from her back…Shepard? Then everything went crazy, a loud sound coming from outside, and giant purple shaped ships came down from the sky, red beams firing down into the city behind the glass. Everyone freaked out, men and women, running for the doors; he braced himself for the onrushing crowd when they just…ran right through him. His eyes were wide, this wasn't happening now, it was one of his dreams…but so much more vivid than ever.

The people behind the giant desk began to get up to run, but a giant beam struck through the window, obliterating them, and sending the desk flying straight for Shepard. She tried to get out of the way, the man she was with tried to pull her away, but it was too late, they were crushed beneath the desk, not moving. He felt his eyes getting dark after that, stumbling he tried to find something to grab onto, but there was nothing to grab, falling onto his side he looked up at the broken window, hearing the screams in his ears. Everything went black, his consciousness fading away as he felt something warm touch the side of his face.

* * *

_So ends this chapter, please review, I don't know when I'll be able to get the next chapter up, but I'll try to make it sooner than later, college permitting._


	13. Dissonance

Five Seconds

Chapter 13: Dissonance

_Authors Note: The wait is finally over! Though I have no doubt you've been busy with other (and probably better) fanfictions :3 College is still my main focus at the moment, but I will do my best to put out chapters when I can, and hopefully they will be satisfying for you to read as we go on in this adventure. All grammatical and spelling errors are my fault! So without further ado we continue!_

* * *

"Are we fucking there yet?" Jack cursed as she shifted on her seat on the shuttle, looking over at the Cheerleader who seemed to get more agitated every time she asked.

"The shuttle is going as fast as it can, we're in a city, not in an open space where you can just 'gun it'" Miranda repeated, "Why you even bothered to come with is beyond me."

Usually Jack would take a little pleasure in pissing Miranda off, however this time the unexplained anxiousness she had killed anything she thought pleasant. What the hell did that green eyed bastard get himself into this time? She heard from Miranda that he was in a bad shape, but in what way? She didn't want to ask; instead she made it look like she was in it for the fight.

"What exactly happened?" Garrus asked. She looked over at the turian, he seemed pretty anxious himself, brushing his finger against the barrel of his sniper rifle.

"From what I can tell the Eclipse threw a toxin called Minagen X3 at them, it's dangerous, but can increase your biotic power for a time, Daemon got covered in the chemical and reacted to it violently," Miranda responded.

Jacks fingers clenched her shotgun tighter, she wanted to hurt someone, more then she usually did. She felt the ship jostle slightly, the door opening up to the open area, she could hear the sounds of gun fire echoing from her right, she was going to get to Daemon faster than she had expected…and to kill someone of course, right.

"_This isn't good…"_ Shepard thought as she crouched behind wide crate, looking down at Daemon, his eyes wide open, his face slick with sweat. She hadn't even realized he'd been covered with the minagen at first, too focused on the incoming Eclipse mercs. Then she heard the sounds of pain coming from behind her. There was Daemon on the ground, grasping at his head, his body glowing head to toe with biotics, and then it faded, and he started to seize. She had no idea how she was going to pull him to safety without hurting him, until Thane lifted him up with his own biotics, leaving the Ranger twitching above the ground, setting him down behind cover while Shepard called for help.

At first she thought they would be able to make where they were, but the problem was that the Eclipse knew they had them outnumbered and out gunned. Shepard couldn't make a run for the hall, not with a seizing party member; someone else would probably get hurt in the process. They couldn't push forward because she wouldn't leave Daemon alone, and the mercs could easily zero in on them and waste their shields and drop them dead. And it would take far too much time and risk to let Kasumi pop in stealth and take out targets, they'd get smart eventually or hit her by accident. Like she said, this was not good.

She blamed herself for this; it was a terrible idea to bring two people that she'd never fought with before. She thought that she would be fine with Daemon, but now he was incapacitated. She pictured Garrus in her mind for a moment as she popped out of cover for a second, firing off a round at one of the mercs before ducking back behind cover. She missed that turian, she had missed him this entire mission, she always felt a comfort and confidence knowing that he was behind her with his trusty sniper rifle.

She glanced back to Daemon, giving a soft exhale of relief as his seizures finally stopped, but he still had that same blank look in his eyes. The relief was short lived however, when she felt the crate she leaned against begin to slip away from her, eyes widening she looked and saw the container rise up, that Eclipse leader Wasea had had enough of playing around it seemed. She lunged for Daemon, grabbing him as she tried to drag him over to Thane and Kasumi, but the bullets came flying for her, her shields whittling away, she cursed between gritted teeth, where the hell was the help she requested?

Just when her shields were gone and she thought she would bite that proverbial bullet, the Eclipse mercs firing on her suddenly got blasted back behind their cover.

"Yeah right on your asses!" the turian voice coming to her ears brought a huge amount of stress right off her shoulders.

He wasn't alone either, right after she felt the shake of a biotic wave rushing past her and into another group of Eclipse, Jack?

"I'll fucking _destroy _you!"

Yep, Jack.

She finally got Daemon behind cover, looking over as she saw Garrus, Jack, and Miranda take cover behind the crate she was just hiding on.

"How is he Commander?" Miranda asked, standing up as she took down one merc with her SMG before popping back down.

She looked back down at him before "He's stopped seizing, but we need to get him out of here, now." She popped back up, firing at one Eclipse merc, bringing the asari down as she saw another merc aiming for her drop with the help of Garrus' rifle, this was more like it! "Kasumi, you and another person take Daemon to the shuttle, get him to the med bay," she ordered.

Kasumi nodded, grabbing Daemon by the arms, Shepard first expected Thane to do it, and then she turned, seeing Jack suddenly roll out of cover, reaching their cover as she lifted Daemon up a little with her biotics. Is he why she was here? She shook her head, it didn't matter, "Cover fire!" she shouted as Jack and Kasumi began to move Daemon towards the door. The convict making a biotic barrier with one hand while Shepard and the team kept as much pressure off the two women as they could. When they got through the door, closing shut behind them Shepard grasped her rifle tightly "Alright, now it's our turn," she said.

* * *

Jack eased Daemon into the shuttle with a gentleness she wasn't used to; a part of her couldn't look at him in this state, another part wanted to see if he was okay. Why couldn't anything be simple with this guy?

She was about to climb into the shuttle when Kasumi beat her to it, jumping into it as she turned, looking down at her from beneath that hood of hers, "I'll take care of handsome here, you should go help the others," she said.

Jack gritted her teeth, looking back towards the sound of gunfire before looking back at the shuttle. Why was this pissing her off? Any other time she would have already been back there, but this little thief calling him 'handsome' made her want to strangle her with that damn hood of hers. A part of her realized arguing meant time wasted that Daemon could get help, "Fine!" she said, having to force it more then she expected "Get the fuck out of here!" she said.

She couldn't see Kasumi's face really, but there was a certain gleam there in those eyes that made her brown eyes narrow before the woman nodded once. "He'll be fine Jack," she said in a more serious tone then Jack had heard her use before.

The convict didn't respond to that, watching the shuttle door close before taking off without her in it. She watched the shuttle fly away, her fingers clenching, she was pissed, and she had no idea why...she finally tuned back to the sound of gunfire, reaching back as she grasped her shotgun. She knew only one way to get the anger out.

* * *

With reinforcements and her closest friend at her side what had been a bad day turned into business as usual. The Eclipse mercs folded beneath the pressure of the sudden turn of events. Finally Wasea of the Eclipse mercs fell in a bullet and biotic ridden heap, filling the large space with silence in what felt like hours. Shepard brushed away a bit of hair that stuck to her sweaty face as she relaxed, moving towards the desk Wasea had been hiding behind she found a data pad. After a moment of reading through she uploaded the data onto her omni-tool, "This is what we need, let's get back to the Detective before Samara changes her mind about waiting a day," she said, looking over at Garrus. "Thanks for coming," she said sincerely, looking over at Miranda and Jack as well.

"Come on, when have I let you down?" Garrus asked in that playful cocky tone of his.

"Nothing comes to mind…yet," Shepard smirked at him.

She watched as Garrus' mandibles twitched before he looked at her "You've got a cut on your cheek," he said.

Her eyes widen slightly as she reached up, touching her cheek, pulling back and looking at her cherry red armor, she saw the darker red fluid sliding down her finger, "Must have gotten grazed when they lifted the crate," She said.

Shepard reached up, about to place some medi-gel on the cut, but Garrus beat her to it, stretching his hand out he smeared the gel onto her cheek with his clawed hand. The feel of his hand against her cheek brought heat to her face, bowing her head slightly as she turned, hiding a blush as she coughed "Thanks," she said.

"Don't mention it," he said, coughing himself as his mandibles flared out, turning away as silence filled the room.

Shepard was actually relieved when Jack broke the silence, "Can we get the fuck out of here already?"

"Jack's right, let's get this data to the Justicar before she starts blasting her way out," Shepard said, looking around before she headed towards the exit.

* * *

His eyes slowly opened up, head throbbing and eyes stinging from the bright light. Daemon felt as someone had taken a sledge hammer to his head. Once his eyes became accustomed to the light he realized he was in the Med-bay on the Normandy. He reached up and rubbed at his forehead, what happened? Why was he in the Med-bay?

It came back to him in a rush that made his head spin, the red container with the strange powder, inhaling it, he felt as if his body was blazing with biotics…until the vision came and then darkness. It must have been the Minagen X3 he inhaled. He looked down at his hands slowly clenching them, somehow his…ability was connected to his biotics, he wasn't sure how, but that was how it was. More importantly what happened with the mission? His answer came when the Med-bay door opened. In came Doctor Chakwas and Shepard right behind her.

"It seems he's awake, good," the Doctor said, moving over to the bed, "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"A bit of a headache, otherwise I'm fine," he replied, reaching back rubbing the back of his head, "Are the others okay?"

"Everyone's fine," Shepard answered crossing her arms "Garrus, Miranda, and Jack came as reinforcements, Jack and Kasumi pulled you out of the battle zone."

Daemon's eyes wandered over to the window, seeing movement behind the glass, Jack? His green eyes moved back over to Shepard "We won't get so lucky next time," he said, there were a lot of mistakes made during the mission, and he was sure Shepard knew as well.

"You're right," Shepard said, looking to the side, "it was a mistake to bring two new people along without training with them, that's why every day we'll be doing practice fights on the fifth floor, pit teams against each other."

"Sounds like a plan," Daemon said, "What of the Justicar?" he asked.

"Samara is in the Starboard observation deck, opposite of your room," Shepard said, but the look in her eye suggested she knew why he was asking, "She's sworn an oath to follow my orders over her code…at least for a short while so she won't kill everyone on the ship."

"Fair enough," He said, turning in bed as he slowly stood up, he felt a little dizzy, but he at least didn't sway.

"Don't push yourself Colonel," Chakwas advised rising her hand slightly, "I'd rather you didn't become a regular in the Med-bay."

"The feeling is mutual Doctor," Daemon replied, "Thank you for the medical care all of the same." He nodded his head at her before he gave Shepard a salute, walking past them, heading to his room.

* * *

Shepard wasn't done talking to Daemon however, when he left she waited a few moments before following right behind him. She figured it was time for a bit of one on one with the Colonel like she usual had with the rest of the crew. Except for Garrus…nowadays he just kept muttering something about 'being in the middle of some calibrations' and it was starting to piss her off.

The door opened up, showing Daemon sitting at the piano, not playing, but just sitting down looking at the keys. His head turned at the sound of the door, his brow raising up slightly, he started to stand up, but stopped when Shepard raised her hand giving a shake of her head. "Was there something else you needed to tell me Commander?" He asked curiously.

Shepard walked over to the bar counter, sitting down on the stool resting her arm on the counter when she just asked, "How are you?"

His green eyes squinted at her slightly before he replied, "It's just a headache Commander it will pass."

"I'm not talking about that, how are you mentally, emotionally," Shepard elaborated. She watched as he looked back down at the keys of the piano. She didn't say anything else, not wanting to rush him in his response this wasn't something to be done in a hurry.

He was quiet for so long she thought that he wasn't going to answer before he said "Dissonance."

"I'm sorry?" She asked, the answer taking her aback, along with not having any idea in what he meant.

"Dissonance, it's a chord in music," He explained, holding up a finger before he placed his hands on the ivory keys, playing a chord on the piano.

When Shepard heard it she frowned a little bit, it didn't sound terrible, but it wasn't comfortable, it felt…incomplete.

"Dissonance is an unstable, tense chord, it is not like consonance, stable and restful, it needs resolution to move away from it," He explained then his fingers drifted over the keys and played another few notes.

With the added notes the feeling washed away from Shepard, feeling relaxed instead of the tension she felt in her mind, "So you need a resolution then," she said "and you think it is going to be found at your home that some random message showed you?"

"Maybe," he said, "If anything it is a start," he stood up from the piano, moving over to the window, hands sliding behind his back.

She didn't like the aspect of that topic at all, not right now, so she decided to change the subject, "You seem to know a bit about music," she commented "not to mention a pretty good singer."

"Music was one of the few things I found comfort in," He said, "I wasn't exactly popular when I was younger, if anything I was treated like a leper, except by one person anyways."

"Who was that?" Shepard asked.

"Lauren," He said. Shepard saw the Rangers eyes stare out into space; she knew he was thinking about her, she couldn't blame him for missing a close friend. "I wish I knew…what happened to them," He murmured softly.

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked, standing up from the stool, moving over to the window. She only got silence from him; gently shaking her head she tried a different subject, "If music is your passion, what made you join the military?" She asked.

"…I wanted to save lives," he said looking at her "A rather cliché reason I know, but I wanted to know…" he started before he stopped.

"Wanted to know what?" Shepard urged him.

"That I had a reason for who I am, that I could make a difference," he said, looking at her, his green eyes sad.

"You have a reason, and you did Daemon," Shepard said, crossing her arms as she leaned against the window.

His lips gave a little twitch as he turned from the window, walking over to the counter, "Nothing that matters now maybe not even back then."

"You can't think like that, you saved those men you fought with plenty of times I bet," Shepard said.

Daemon looked down for a moment before he raised his head up, "There's only one life I really ever truly saved," he said as he sat down on the stool, "We were in the middle of a town, at first everything was fine, but then I spotted a sniper on one of the roof tops, I saw where he was aiming and jumped in front of his shot.." Shepard watched as Daemon rubbed at his shoulder, "It was the first time I was ever wounded in battle, and I don't regret it for a moment."

"I imagine the person owed you a hell of a drink after that," Shepard said with a little bit of a smile.

"Actually I considered us even, he saved my life before…hell he was the reason I became a Ranger," Daemon said, "He was a good man, a good leader, he knew when to let things slide and when to crack the whip."

Shepard's brow perked a little bit at the last bit, but she just smiled a little more, "All good leaders do that for sure," She said.

"That's how I see it," Daemon said, the Ranger taking a deep breath before he exhaled "Thank you…for the talk Commander."

"Don't mention it," Shepard said, "and when you can, please try and talk with the rest of the crew, I don't want to hear you being in here all the time."

"Is that an order Commander?" he asked with a little perked brow of his own.

"If that is what it takes, then yes," She replied with a smirk.

She heard him give a soft "Hmph," of amusement before he said, "I will do my best."

"That's all I ask," She said, "Tomorrow we're going to help Jacob with his…dissonance," she said using the word Daemon used to describe himself.

"And bring his resolution eh?" Daemon said in an amused tone.

"Exactly, we'll be focusing on the teams personal problems for a bit, along with practice fights," She said before walking towards the door, "Good night Colonel."

"Good night Commander," She heard Daemon say before she went out the door, hearing it close behind her.

"_Bring resolution hm?" _She thought to herself as she went into the elevator _"I hope we can all find some when this is all done with…"_

* * *

Daemon watched as Shepard left, shaking his head softly as he moved back to his bed, laying on his back as he stared up at the ceiling, his mind going back to his vision...of the strange ships falling from the sky and the possible demise of Shepard. The question in his mind wasn't what if it happend. Rather it was _when._

* * *

_Authors Note: I'm sorry it was so short I'm a bad bad man I know _, but I at least wanted to post something. I at least hope it's fulfilling for now while I work on the next chapter. Thank you for your patience and by all means put a review whether critical or positive, it all helps!_


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